FINAL  REPORT 


Committee  on  School  Inquiry 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment 


Presenting  Summary  of  Conclusions  of  the  Inquiry  Con- 
ducted by  the  Committee 


Committee  on  School  Inquiry 

JOHN  PURROY  MITCHEL 

PresiJeni  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen 

WILLIAM  A.  PRENDERGAST 

Comptroller 

CYRUS  C  MILLER 

President  of  the  Borough  of  the  Bronx 


CITY   OF   NEW  YORK 
1911-1913 


FINAL  REPORT 

COMMITTEE  ON  SCHOOL  INQUIRY 
BOARD  OF  ESTIMATE  AND 
APPORTIONMENT  . 


PRESENTING   SUMMARY  OF  CONCLUSIONS 

OF  THE  INQUIRY  CONDUCTED 

BY  THE  COMMITTEE 


CITY  OF  NEW  YORK , 
1911-1913  ^'^ 


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in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


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33f 

/?/3 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAQB 

Introductory  Statement 7 


I.    THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INQUIRY. 

1.  Co-operation  between  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  the  Board  of 

Education  Established 7 

2.  Economies  Efifected  or  Indicated  as  a  Result  of  the  Inquiry 9 

3.  The  Achievements  of  the  Local  Schools  Indicate  the  Intrinsic  Bases 

for  Future  Progress 10 

4.  ,  The  School  is  the  Intermediary  Between  the  Individual  and  Society . .     11 


11.    THE  GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS  OF  THE  INQUIRY. 

ONE:  The  course  of  study  in  all  schools  should  be  organized 
around  human  problens  and  made  simple  and  elastic 
enough  to  permit  of  diSferentiation  to  meet  the  needs  of 
different  nationalities  and  groups 12 

TWO:  The  content  of  the  course  of  study  should  be  made  as  prac- 
tical as  possible  and  special  attention  should  be  given  to 
the  development  of  commercial,  industrial  and  vocational 
subjects  emphasizing  the  larger  and  more  important  aspects 
of  industrial  and  commercial  activities 15 

THREE :  The  Board  of  Education  should  take  necessary  steps  to  effect 

the  gradual  elimination  of  teachers  of  special  branches.  .     18 

FOUR :  Each  school  as  a  neighborhood  center  should  ally  itself  with 

neighborhood  interests  and  take  cognizance  of  local  needs.     20 

FIVE:  That  the  Board  of  Education  should  make  a  careful  inves- 
tigation to  ascertain  .whether  cosmopolitan  or  composite 
high  schools  offering  several  different  courses  of  study  or 
small  high  schools  with  differentiated  curricula  should  be 
developed 22 

SIX:  The  Board  of  Education  through  the  proposed  Bureau  of  In- 
vestigation and  Appraisal  or  other  bureau,  should  establish 
a  fact  basis  for  its  educational,  administrative  and  financial 
work 23 


3031334 


4  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAQE 

SEVEN :  The  Board  of  Education's  attendance  department  should 
adjust  its  work  so  as  to  maintain  discipline  and  con- 
trol school  attendance  without  resorting  to  police 
methods  in  checking  truancy 26 

EIGHT:  The  educational  administrative  work  of  the  Department 

of  Education  should  be  reorganized 30 

NINE:  The  Board  of  Education  should  carefully  supervise  the 
operation  of  heating  and  ventilating  systems  installed 
in  the  different  pubUc  school  buildings 34 

TEN:  A  comprehensive   plan   should  be  worked  out  for  the 
wider  use  of  school  buildings  for  purposes  of  recrea-  . 
tion,  for  public  assemblage  and  for  civic  and  social 
gatherings 35 

ELEVEN:  The  different  administrative  departments  and  bureaus 

of  the  Department  of  Education  should  be  reorganized. .     37 

TWELVE :  The  accounting  system  of  the  Board  of  Education  should 
be  so  adjusted  as  to  make  possible  the  fullest  segrega- 
tion of  disbursement  accoimts  along  functional  lines 
properly  correlated  with  allied  statistics,  and  their 
publication  at  least  quarterly 41 

THIRTEEN :  The  Board  of  Education  should  provide  for  the  collection 
and  tabulation  of  all  current  data  needed  in  order  to 
enable  it  to  know  in  advance  what  additional  seating 
capacity  is  actually  required  throughout  the  city 45 

FOURTEEN:  The  Permanent  Census  Board  shotdd  be  utilized  by  the 
Board  of  Education  and  should  eventually  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  Board  of  Education 46 

FIFTEEN:  The  Board  of  Education  should  be  reorganized  and  its 
membership  reduced  from  forty-six  to  eight  with 
sixteen  votes  as  now  distributed  in  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment 46 

The  Import  of  the  Inquiry. . . : 50 

The  Place  of  Education  in  Modem  Life 50 

The  Working  Aims  of  the  School : 

1.  The  school  should  inculcate  knowledge 51 

2.  The  school  should  give  to  its  pupils  a  mastery  of  method 51 

3.  The  school  should  do  its  part  to  ijiduct  the  child  into  life 51 

4.  The  school  should  induct  the  child  into  industrial  and  economic 

life 51 

5.  The  school  should  give  attention  to  physical  education  and  cor- 

rection of  physical  defects 51 

6.  The  school  should  educate  for  leisure 52 

rests  of  Public  School  Work 52 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  S 
m.    THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  INQUIRY 

PAGB 

1.  The  Origin  of  the  School  Inquiry 52 

2.  The  Resolution  Ordering  the  Inquiry 54 

3.  The  Plan  of  the  Inquiry 55 

4.  The  Cost  of  the  Inquiry 57 

5.  Difficulties  Encountered 58 

6.  Aid  Furnished  by  Organizations  of  Citizens 59 

7.  National  Significance  of  the  Inquiry 59 

8.  Concluding  Statement 59 


May  29,  1913. 

To  the  Honorable, 

The  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment. 

Gentlemen  : — The  Committee  on  School  Inquiry,  of  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment,  appointed  pursuant  to  a  resolution  adopted 
by  this  Board  on  October  26,  1910,  herewith  presents  its  final  report. 
The  report  comprises  three  volumes,  and  consists  of  the  report  of  the 
Committee  and  the  reports  of  the  various  specialists  employed  by  it. 

It  was  originally  the  intention  of  the  Committee  to  take  up  in  con- 
ference with  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Education  the  reports  of  the 
various  specialists  before  the  submission  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  of 
the  Committee's  final  report,  in  order  that  its  report  might  be  based 
upon  the  consensus  of  opinion  of  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, as  well  as  the  members  of  the  Committee.  The  work  of  the  in- 
quiry, however,  has  consumed  so  much  more  time  than  was  originally 
expected,  and  other  matters  of  great  importance  have  demanded  so 
much  of  the  time  of  the  members  of  the  Committee,  that  it  has  been 
impossible  to  conduct  the  proposed  conferences.  The  Committee  feels 
that  more  will  be  gained  by  submitting  the  entire  results  of  the  inquiry 
at  the  present  time,  while  there  still  remains  an  opportunity  to  secure 
constructive  results  during  the  life  of  the  present  administration,  than 
would  be  gained  by  undertaking  a  conference  at  this  late  date. 

I.    THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INQUIRY. 

Your  Committee  submits  herewith  a  brief  outline  of  the  results  and 
general  conclusions  of  the  school  inquiry  for  the  consideration  of  the 
Board  of  Education,  and  indicates  the  salient  facts  relating  to  its  origin, 
plan  and  significance. 

(i)     Co-operation  Between  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  the 
Board  of  Education  Established. 

Your  Committee  is  able  to  report  that  there  is  now  nothing  to  pre- 
vent the  fullest  cooperation  between  the  City  Government  and  the  Board 
of  Education  in  the  development  of  the  public  schools.  In  a  statement 
transmitted  by  Superintendent  William  H.  Maxwell  to  the  Comptroller, 
outlining  his  plans  for  the  use  of  the  proposed  allowance  of  $9,250  for 
one  statistician  experienced  in  school  matters,  three  clerks  and  one 
stenographer  and  typewriter,  he  has  listed  what  he  will  be  able  to  under- 
take, with  the  aid  of  the  proposed  force,  as  follows : 

7 


S  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

1.  "The  design  is  to  relieve  as  far  as  possible  the  principals  and  teachers  of 
schools  from  making  the  very  heavy  and  cumbersome  annual  report  from  which  statis- 
tics for  many  important  purposes  are  derived,  and  instead  thereof  to  keep  in  this  office, 
derived  from  the  monthly  reports  of  principals,  a  statement  drawn  up  in  proper  statis- 
tical form  of  any  essential  facts  from  month  to  month,  which  will  be  practically  com- 
pleted when  the  month  of  June  arrives,  and  from  which  the  necessary  reports  may  be 
made  to  those  requiring  them  at  any  time. 

2.  "To  relate  the  registration  and  attendance  of  the  public  schools  to  population 
more  closely  than  is  done  at  present. 

3.  '"To  collect  and  study  all  statistics  bearing  upon  the  matter  of  the  selection  of 
sites  for  new  school  buildings  and  to  enable  the  City  Superintendent  to  advise  the 
Board  of  Education  regarding  the  proper  order  for  the  erection  of  buildings  and  the 
purchase  of  sites. 

4.  "To  make  careful  study  of  the  problems  of  promotion  and  non-promotion, 
rapid  advancement  and  retardation,  not  only  for  the  benefit  of  the  children  concerned, 
but  for  a  more  economical  administration  of  the  schools. 

5.  "To  collect  statistics  bearing  upon  the  proper  distribution  of  the  pupils  in  the 
schools  throughout  various  school  buildings,  by  districts,  as  far  as  this  subject  may  be 
-within  the  direction  and  control  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

6.  "To  collect  and  tabulate  statistics  acceptable  to  the  Budget  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Estimate  as  to  the  need  for  new  teachers  in  day  elementary,  high,  training 
and  evening  schools,  etc. 

7.  "To  prepare  the  necessary  annual  reports  for  transmission  to  the  State  Depart- 
tnent  and  the  United  States  Department  of  Education. 

8.  "To  make  careful  study  of  all  these  statistics  and  any  similar  statistics  with  a 
view  to  a  more  efficient  and  more  economical  administration." 

It  is  now  apparent  that  the  Board  of  Education  has  indicated  its 
intention  to  adopt  a  definite  program  for  the  development  of  the  schools 
and  to  conduct  its  work  upon  the  basis  of  fact,  rather  than  upon  the 
basis  of  educational  opinion.^  If  the  fact  basis  is  accepted,  and  adhered 
to  by  the  Board  of  Education,  the  chief  source  of  discord  will  have  been 
•eliminated,  for  the  only  possibilities  for  future  differences  of  opinion 
Avill  lie  in  the  interpretation  of  facts  and  in  the  translation  of  knowledge 
into  action.  The  situation  calls  for  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  Board 
of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  with  the  Board  of  Education,  for  en- 
lightened public  opinion  may  be  safely  depended  upon  in  the  future  to 
throw  the  weight  of  its  influence  in  the  right  direction.  Your  Commit- 
tee believes  that  the  establishment  of  intelligent  cooperation  in  the  place 
of  misleading  irresponsible  conflict  is  well  worth  all  that  this  inquiry  has 
cost  even  if  no  other  constructive  suggestions  had  resulted  therefrom. 

*  The  semi-annual  report  of  Hon.  Thomas  W.  Churchill,  President  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  which  was  presented  to  that  body  on  July  9,  1913,  contains  the  following 
reference  to  the  present  relation  of  the  Board  of  Education  to  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment: 

"The  year  has  shown  what  in  previous  years  many  had  surmised  to  be  true,  that 
quarrels  with  the  Board  of  Estimate  are  unnecessary  and  wasteful.  The  Board  of 
Education,  by  delegating  so  many  of  its  duties  to  subordinates,  had  lost  touch  with 
the  real  needs  of  the  schools  and  had  found  itself  unable  to  understand  or  to  demon- 
strate to  the  Board  of  Estimate  the  needs  of  the  schools.  Subordinates  will  confer 
freely  with  the  Board  of  Education  and  substantiate,  by  a  less  reluctant  exhibition  of 
records,  statistics  and  facts,  their  propositions.  As  a  result  you  will  gain,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Board  of  Estimate,  your  rightful  standing  as  a  body  conversant  with 
the  needs  of  the  schools,  a  body  economical  in  requisition  for  those  needs,  and  a  body 
determined  in  accordance  with  the  laws  to  be  the  factor  to  decide  as  to  how  the 
(Department  shall  be  conducted." 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  9 

As  further  evidences  of  the  wilHngness  of  the  Board  of  Education 
to  cooperate  with  the  city  government  for  the  good  of  the  schools, 
attention  is  called  to  the  special  investigations  of  (i)  ventilation,  (2) 
truancy,  (3)  reports  and  the  reporting  system,  (4)  methods  of  esti- 
mating the  number  of  teachers  required  in  the  conduct  of  the  schools, 
(5)  the  retirement  fund,  (6)  superior  merit  and  the  work  of  the 
Board  of  Examiners,  (7)  the  training  schools  for  teachers,  and  (8) 
the  course  of  study,  all  of  which  have  been  carried  on  by  the  Board 
of  Education  during  a  period  covered  by  this  inquiry.  Within  the 
past  six  months  the  Board  of  Education  has  acceded  to  the  request  of 
this  Board,  and  has  made  provision  for  the  more  definite  calculation  of 
salary  accruals.  On  May  14  the  Board  of  Education  adopted  a  resolu- 
tion calling  for  a  trial  of  the  method  proposed  by  Dr.  Frank  P.  Bach- 
man,  one  of  the  specialists  engaged  by  this  Committee,  for  the  collec- 
tion of  information  upon  which  to  base  its  estimates  for  additional 
elementary  and  high  school  teachers.  Principals'  and  teachers'  asso- 
ciations have  been  studying  the  various  interim  reports  submitted  by 
this  Committee,  and  have  made  very  helpful  reports  as  a  result  of  their 
deliberations  and  study.  The  special  committee  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation which  has  been  studying  the  Bachman  report  on  "Intermediate 
Schools"  has  reported  in  favor  of  their  extension  as  far  as  possible. 

(2)    Economies  Effected  or  Indicated  as  a  Result  of  the  Inquiry. 

There  is  no  way  to  measure  in  terms  of  money  the  economies 
effected  as  a  result  of  this  investigation  and  through  the  work  of  this 
board.  An  indication  is  afforded  by  the  annual  budget  estimates  of 
the  Board  of  Education.  Before  this  board  began  to  ask  questions  the 
Board  of  Education  yearly  estimated  that  the  annual  increase  of  school 
population  was  twice  what  it  actually  had  been. 

For  example,  when  the  elementary  school  principals  were  requested 
through  the  City  Superintendent  to  estimate  the  increase  in  register  in 
their  respective  schools  on  December  31,  1912,  over  the  register  in 
December,  191 1,  the  estimates,  when  added  together,  indicated  an  in- 
crease of  35,377  pupils,  whereas  the  employees  of  this  Committee 
showed  that  the  actual  average  annual  increase  for  four  years  previous 
was  only  19,108,  or  16,269  l^ss  than  the  principals'  estimate  for  the 
year  19 12  over  1911.^ 

The  effect  of  this  analysis  upon  the  Board  of  Education's  own  esti- 
mate is  shown  by  the  following,  taken  from  its  estimate  for  191 3: 
Estimated  increase  in  register  fof  December  31,  1912,  18,607:  average 
annual  increase  for  five  years,  16  885.  This  shows  a  difference  between 
the  estimated  increase  and  th-^  rverap-e  rnnral  increase  of  only  1,722. 
In  1912  the  Board  of  Education  asked  for  a  total  of  1,260  additional 

'  In  this  connection  Dr.  Frank  P.  Bachman  makes  the  following  statement  in  his 
report  on  Estimating  for  Budget  Purposes  the  Number  of  Teachers  Needed  in  the 
Elementary  Schools : 

"These  exaggerated  estimated  increases  in  the  register  when  the  individual  school 
was  the  unit  of  the  forecast  and  principals  were  relatively  free  to  make  their  estimates 
in  their  own  way  illustrate  how  inexact  such  estimates  are  and  how  more  exact 
estimates  could  easily  have  been  made  on  the  basis  of  the  increase  year  over  year 
for  a  series  of  years  in  the  register  of  the  system  as  a  whole." 


10  EDUCATIONAL   INVESTIGATION 

teachers,  to  cost  $648,056.  Whereas,  for  191 3,  it  asked  for  only  986 
additional  teachers,  to  cost  $523,016.  Despite  the  fact  that  the  equal 
pay  law,  which  increased  the  average  salary  of  most  teachers,  went  into 
effect  in  191 2,  the  Board  of  Education  reduced  the  estimate  of  the 
amount  of  money  required  for  additional  teachers  by  19.29  per  cent., 
and  its  estimate  of  the  number  of  additional  teachers  required  by  21.70 
per  cent.  During  the  year  19 12  over  219  additional  teachers  were  em- 
ployed for  whom  no  funds  were  allowed  in  the  budget. 

Considerable  economies  have  been  effected  by  the  repair  shops  in- 
stalled by  the  Brooklyn  Bureau  of  Buildings  following  this  Board's 
refusal  to  vote  funds  for  new  desks  when  remodelled  old  desks  could 
be  used.  Further  economits  in  supplies  have  been  effected  through  a 
more  careful  analysis  and  inspection  of  goods  delivered. 

The  estimated  possible  economies  set  out  in  the  two  Armstrong 
reports  alone  are  as  follows: 

Report  on  the  Condition  and  Efficiency  of  Public  School  Buildings  (an- 
nually)         $650,000 

Report  upon  New  York  Public  Schools;    Delays  in  Location,  Construction 

and   Design    (annually) »  . . . .       1,200,000 

Total    $1,850,000 

The  adoption  of  the  cooperative  plan  of  vocational  and  continua- 
tion school  work  will  make  unnecessary  the  construction  of  at  least  two 
vocational  schools  annually  for  the  next  few  years,  which  would  have 
to  be  provided  if  the  school  system  were  to  introduce  that  training 
along  the  lines  heretofore  recommended  by  the  Board  of  Education. 
The  cooperative  plan  of  work  will,  upon  that  basis,  save  at  least 
$i.ooo,coo  annually  for  the  next  several  years,  and  will  produce  much 
more  practical  results,  if  the  experience  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  Fitch- 
burg,  Mass.,  is  to  be  trusted. 


(3)     The  Achievements  of  the  Local  Schools  Indicate  the 
Intrinsic  Bases  for  Future  Progress. 

As  was  to  be  expected  the  inquiry  has  demonstrated  that  the  local 
school   system  has  already  conducted   experiments   and    has   produced 

>  Budgetary  Requests  of  Department  of  Education  to  Provide  Teachers  (1)  for 
Increase  in  Register  and  for  the  Reduction  of  Over-Size  Classes  Only 


Budget 

Estimate 

of 

(1). 
To  be  Appointed  in 

Fall  Term  Preceding 

Given  Budget  Year 

(2) 

To  be  Appointed 

During 

Budget  Year 

(3) 

Total 

Amounts 

Requested 

Teachers 
Requested 

Amount 
Requested 

Teachers  (3) 
Requested 

Amount 
Requested 

1912 

1913 

1914 

438 
384 
324 

$307,300.00 
295,480.00 
270,640.00 

914 

535 
382 

$272,874.16 

(2)  172,208.34 

133,666.65 

$579,440.83 
467,688.34 
404,306.65 

(1)  Does  not  include  principals,  assistants  to  principals  and  additional  teachers. 

(2)  New  salary  schedules  went  into  effect,  increasing  initial  salary  from  $640  to  $720. 

(3)  Requested  for  five  months  only. 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  ll 

tested  results  which  should  be  utilized  for  further  experimentation  and 
for  the  eradication  of  the  patent  weaknesses  in  the  present  system. 
Your  Committee  has  found  much  to  commend,  as  well  as  much  to 
criticise.  It  believes  that  it  has  successfully  demonstrated  the  possi- 
bility of  offering  serious  constructive  criticism,  while  at  the  same  time 
giving  due  credit  for  the  great  achievements  of  those  who  have  given 
their  best  efforts  and  the  better  part  of  their  lives  to  the  development 
of  our  system  of  public  education.  The  Committee  cordially  approves 
of  the  praise  given  to  Dr.  William  H.  Maxwell,  City  Superintendent 
of  Schools/  and  to  the  heads  of  the  system  by  the  various  reports  of 
the  sp>ecialists  employed  by  it.  It  wishes  also  to  express  its  approval 
of  the  work  of  those  in  the  ranks  whose  achievements  are  consider- 
able, of  the  veritable  army  of  teachers  and  directors  who,  unknown  and 
unheralded,  perform  each  task  and  render  each  service  without  fear 
and  for  the  good  of  the  community. 

(4)     The  School  is  the  Intermediary  Between 
the  Individual  and  Society. 

This  inquiry  has  re-emphasized  that  the  public  school  is  a  great  en- 
gine of  democracy,  and,  as  such,  should  not  be  dominated  by  any  class. 
It  can  render  its  greatest  service  to  society  when  all  members  of  society 
are  giving  their  best  service  to  it.  The  American  people  have  a  right 
to  expect  that  their  best  political  scientists,  political  economists,  statis- 
ticians, religious  teachers,  labor  leaders  and  students  of  public  affairs, 
as  well  as  their  best  educators,  shall  cooperate  and  shall  strive  to  pro- 
mote the  proper  development  of  the  public  school,  for  it  is  only  when 
all  of  these  authorities  join  with  the  educator  and  exert  their  united 
efforts  that  society  is  truly  represented,  and  that  the  layman  may  feel 
assured  that  the  public  school  may  be  made  to  render  service  commen- 
surate with  its  cost  and  worthy  of  the   fondest  hope  of  democracy.- 

'  See  Elliott  report,  pp.  —  ,and  letter  of  Supt.  Maxwell  setting  forth  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  system  since  1899,  pp . 

"  In  the  Publications  of  the  American  Sociological  Society,  Vol.  VII.  pp.  64-65, 
Prof.   Paul  Monroe,  of  Teachers  College,   Columbia  University,   says : 

"If  I  may  speak  for  the  largest  group  of  professional  men  and  women  in  our 
society,  I  would  formulate  this  argument  in  terms  of  a  plea  of  public  education :  a 
plea  to  the  scientist,  that  he  be  interested  not  only  in  the  new  interpretation  of  phe- 
nomena, and  in  the  new  control  of  natural  forces ;  but  also  in  the  dissemination  of 
scientific  knowledge  and  scientific  methods  of  thought  and  procedure  among  the  masses, 
and  thus  assist  in  the  control  of  the  greatest  of  all  forces,  public  opinion  and  social 
will ;  to  the  economist,  that  he  be  interested  not  only  in  the  investigation  and  interpre- 
tation of  the  economic  phenomena  of  society,  but  also  in  that  institution  which  touches 
more  lives  and  those  lives  more  powerfully  than  any  other  save  possibly  the  state  itself, 
that  it  be  not  one  of  the  most  wasteful  of  institutions  in  the  expenditure  of  human 
energy,  and  relatively  one  of  the  most  inefficient  in  the  expenditure  of  social  wealth ; 
to  the  historian,  that  he  realize  that  the  vital  connection  in  the  continuity  of  history 
is  to  be  made  in  the  transmission  of  the  achievements  and  standards  of  the  past  to  the 
coming  generation ;  that  the  really  vital  thing  in  history  is  the  teaching  of  history  to 
the  end  that  historic  forces  and  institutions  be  generally  understood  and  conserved; 
to  the  sociologist  that  he  also  give  attention  to  the  problems  of  public  education,  a 


12  EDUCATIONAL   INVESTIGATION 

The  wide  discussion  of  the  reports  in  the  daily  press  and  monthly 
periodicals  and  the  public  conferences  and  discussions  thereof  prove 
clearly  that  the  interest  of  the  general  public  in  the  schools  is  so  keen  as 
to  make  it  forever  impossible  for  any  influence  to  make  the  schools  the 
football  of  machine  or  personal  politics. 

n.    THE  GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS  OF  THE  INQUIRY. 

Your  Committee  has  summarized  the  main  conclusions  and  con- 
structive suggestions  upon  which  its  investigators  are  in  general  accord. 
In  presenting  this  summary  the  Committee  wishes  it  clearly  understood 
that  it  is  not  in  a  position  to  pass  final  judgment  upon  the  worth  of 
those  recommendations  which  deal  with  problems  requiring  treatment 
at  the  hands  of  those  qualified  by  academic  training  and  practical  ex- 
perience. They  are  listed  herein  in  their  logical  order  and  in  brief 
and  conclusive  form.  All  the  suggestions  which  deal  mainly  with 
educational  matters  have  financial  significance.  The  more  obvious 
facts  of  financial  import  are  pointed  out  by  the  Committee  under  the 
appropriate  heads. 


CONCLUSION  ONE. 

The  course  of  study  in  all  schools  should  be  organized  around  human  prob- 
lems and  made  simple  and  elastic  enough  to  permit  of  differentiation 
to  meet  the  needs  of  different  nationalities  and  groups. 

In  a  letter  to  Professor  Hanus,  dated  September  6,  191 1,  the  City 
Superintendent  of  Schools  sets  forth  in  detail  how  difficult  it  had  been 
to  establish  a  uniform  curriculum  of  eight  years. ^ 

Professor  McMurry,  in  his  report  upon  "The  Course  of  Study," 
has  pointed  out  that  the  New  York  course  of  study  is  in  some  respects 
twenty  years  behind  the  times,  that  it  is  not  organized  around  human 
problems,  that  it  shows  want  of  educational  leadership,  and  that  it  is 

social  process  now  so  influenced  by  the  general  principles  which  are  fundamental  to 
his  science  that  it  has  become  the  chief  means  by  which  society  seeks  to  accomplish  a 
great  variety  of  its  purposes — to  assist  its  helpless ;  to  correct  its  delinquents ;  to 
improve  its  dependents ;  to  equalize  its  opportunities ;  to  preserve  its  resources ;  to 
lift  up  the  lowly  races ;  to  amalgamate  alien  races ;  to  preserve  its  hard-won  wealth 
of  culture ;  to  perpetuate  the  results  of  its  age-long  struggle  with  Nature ;  to  render 
stable  the  triumphs  over  the  limitations  of  human  nature ;  the  process  by  which  it 
seeks  to  realize  in  coming  generations  those  ideals  which  are  promulgated  by  the 
present  as  an  aspiration  or  as  a  vision  of  possible  attainment." 

'  The  letter  of  City  Superintendent  Maxwell  to  Professor  Hanus  will  be  fotmd  on 
pages 


FINAL   REPORT    OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  13. 

not  fitted  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  pupils.  He  states  in  reply  to  criticism 
of  his  report  that  the  local  system  does  allow  the  teachers  of  special 
classes  for  backward  and  ungraded  pupils  to  follow  their  own  curricu- 
lum, teachers  of  cooking  and  reading  to  vary  the  course  according  to- 
local  conditions,  and  kindergarten  teachers  infinite  variation  in  their 
work.  The  point  of  his  criticism  is  that  this  differentiation  should  be 
extended  to  other  subjects.  As  regards  drawing,  construction  work, 
cooking  and  sewing,  the  investigator  points  out  that : 

"Nothing  less  than  a  complete  change  of  viewpoint  in  the  organization  and  develop- 
ment of  the  curriculum,  in  terms  of  both  social  values  and  child  psychology,  could  do* 
much  to  broaden  the  work  as  it  ought  to  be  broadened." 

At  another  point  he  states : 

"In  spite  of  the  fact  that  four-fifths  of  the  children  in  some  schools  hear  only 
foreign  languages  at  home,  while  few  in  other  schools  hear  anything  but  English,  all 
are  expected  to  spend  approximately  the  same  time  in  the  study  of  English.  And,  of 
course,  there  must  be  overcrowding  for  some  tens  of  thousands,  and  not  enough  work 
for  other  tens,  while  all  suffer  more  or  less." 

Dr.  Frank  P.  Bachman,  in  his  report  upon  "Promotion,  Non-pro- 
motion and  Part-time,"  commenting  upon  the  length  of  time  it  takes- 
children  to  complete  the  elementary  school  course  in  this  city,  says : 

"While  pupils  are,  as  we  have  seen,  probably  in  attendance  by  fourteen  on  the 
average  7.2  years,  64.81  per  cent,  of  all  pupils  thirteen  to  fourteen,  exclusive  of  those 
graduating,  continue  in  school  between  7.2  and  8.2  years;  27.41  per  cent,  between  8.2 
and  9.2;  and  7.95  per  cent,  between  9.2  and  10.2  years.  Yet  less  than  42  per  cent,  of 
the  pupils  entering  the  elementary  schools  of  the  city  ever  complete  the  course  of 
study." 

At  another  point  this  investigator  says : 

"That  children  need  to  remain  one,  two,  three  and  even  four  years  after  becoming 
fourteen  to  complete  the  course  of  study — ^and  some  of  them  do  not  complete  it  even 
then — shows  to  what  extent  the  proper  length  of  the  period  of  elementary  education 
has  been  disregarded,  and  to  what  extent,  considering  the  conditions  under  which  chil- 
dren have  to  work,  their  progress  is  retarded  by  the  excessive  requirement  that  all  of 
them  shall  complete  the  same  course." 

Dr.  Calvin  O.  Davis,  in  his  report  upon  the  "High  School  Course 
of  Study,"  says: 

"We  view  this  uniformity  of  prescription  as  vicious  in  principle  and  injurious  in 
practice.     It  is  undemocratic,  unsocial,  unpedagogical." 

In  another  section  of  his  report,  in  discussing  the  inadaptability  of 
the  general  high  school  course  for  all  who  could  or  would  profit  by  it, 
Dr.  Davis  says : 

"It  is  certainly  incongruous  to  provide  a  single  uniform  course  for  all  pupils  in  the 
general  high  schools  in  a  city  with  the  diversified  business  interests,  the  complex  social" 
relations,  and  the  individual  difference  in  intellectual,  physical,  and  moral  powers  found 
in  New  York  City.  Uniformity  can  operate  advantageously  only  over  a  homogeneous 
body  dominated  by  singleness  of  aim;  not  over  a  heterogeneous  community  withi 
diversified  aims  and  interests." 


14  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

This  same  investigator,  after  comparing  New  York's  course  with 
that  of  ten  other  cities,  as  regards  the  scope  of  work  offered  in  the 
general  high  school  course,  the  intensiveness  with  which  the  many  stud- 
ies are  pursued,  and  the  flexibility  with  which  the  work  is  administered, 
concludes  that  New  York  ranks  markedly  below  the  majority  of  other 
cities  with  which  it  has  been  compared. 

In  order  to  administer  a  course  more  extensive  in  scope  and  in- 
tensive in  attack  than  New  York's  existing  course  it  is  pointed  out 
that  it  will  be  necessary  that  changes  be  made  in  the  uniform  prescrip- 
tions for  all  students.  While  it  will  not  be  easy  to  introduce  a  dif- 
ferentiated course  of  study  for  all  schools  suited  to  the  needs  of  the 
individual,  it  is  by  no  means  impossible.  The  inquiry  has  indicated 
how  it  can  be  done. 

Professor  McMurry  suggests  that : 

"The  principal  and  teachers  of  a  school  in  one  of  the  crowded  sections  of  the  East 
Side,  assisted  by  the  best  talent  among  the  superintendents,  shall  plan  a  curriculum 
for  that  particular  school.  In  this  way,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  might  be  shown 
what  one  good  curriculum  is.  Since  the  upper  West  Side  contains  a  very  different 
kind  of  population,  a  curriculum  for  a  particular  school  there  might  be  planned  in  a 
similar  manner.  Thus,  a  second  curriculum  might  be  secured  adapted  to  a  particular 
situation.  For  a  certain  school  in  the  Bronx,  representing  a  third  type  of  environ- 
ment, and  of  pupils,  a  curriculum  might  be  prepared  under  like  conditions ;  and  a 
fourth,  fifth,  and  others  might  follow,  according  to  the  number  of  somewhat  distinctive 
types  of  schools  in  the  entire  city. 

"With  the  help  of  these  curricula  principals  and  teachers  of  other  schools  might 
take  the  initiative  in  preparing  curricula  for  their  own  schools.  If  they  lack  ability, 
or  energy,  or  power  to  co-operate  with  one  another,  or  all  these  together,  they  could 
at  least  adopt  outright  one  of  the  several  types  already  developed,  that  most  nearly 
fitted  their  own  condition.  In  that  case  they  would  at  least  get  a  much  better  fit  than 
any  they  now  have." 

Mr.  Stuart  Courtis,  in  the  report  upon  the  application  of  his  tests 
to  some  33,000  New  York  school  children,  has  outlined  clearly  how  by 
the  application  of  his  tests  the  course  in  arithmetic  may  be  made  to 
meet  the  needs  of  children  of  different  nationalities,  and  of  different 
economic  groups,  and  further,  how  the  Board  of  Education  may  ascer- 
tain the  grade  of  ability  required  in  different  pursuits,  so  that  it  may 
train  children  to  meet  these  demands  without  making  the  school  the 
handmaiden  of  business. 

The  methods  outlined  in  Mr.  Courtis's  report,  and  by  Dr.  Bach- 
man,  in  his  reports  upon  "Promotion,  Non-promotion  and  Part-time," 
and  upon  "Over-age  and  Method  of  Determining  Over-age,"  or  scien- 
tific methods  similar  thereto,  will,  if  adopted  and  developed,  make  it 
possible  for  the  Board  of  Education,  the  superintendents,  the  principals 
and  teachers  to  get  a  grasp  on  their  problems  at  the  beginning  of  each 
term,  and  will  thus  enable  them  to  do  their  work  much  more  efficiently. 
In  this  way  a  body  of  information  will  1)e  furnished  currently,  which 
will  serve  as  a  basis  for  frequent  changes  in  the  course  of  study  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  community.    In  the  case  of  the  high  school  course  Pro- 


FINAL    REPORT    OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  15 

fessor  Davis  makes  the  following  statement  concerning  its  proper  ad- 
justment to  the  individual  and  to  society: 

"The  principals  of  the  various  high  schools  should  be  encouraged,  in  conjunction 
and  co-operation  with  their  respective  teachers,  to  make  thorough  analysis  of  the  needs 
and  desires  of  the  community  in  which  their  schools  are  located,  and  of  the  dominant 
interests  and  real  needs  of  the  pupils  that  enter  their  schools.  They  should  formulate 
courses  of  study  for  their  several  schools  in  the  light  of  their  findings  and  the  best 
educational  insight  they  can  command.  Such  courses  of  study,  unless  disapproved  by 
their  official  superiors,  should  then  be  put  into  actual  operation  in  the  schools  for 
which  they  were  designed,  and  the  result  carefully  watched  by  the  Bureau  of  Investiga- 
tion and  Appraisal.  Every  five  years  it  should  be  incumbent  on  each  principal  and  hi.s 
corps  of  teachers  to  re-analyze  the  entire  local  situation  and,  so  far  as  found  advisable, 
to  recast  the  course  of  study  anew.  Only  by  adopting  some  such  procedure  can  a 
course  of  study  be  kept  in  touch  with  the  real  needs  of  the  community  it  is  designed 
to  serve  and  in  harmony  with  contemporary  educational  principles." 

Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania  have  adopted  differentiated  cur- 
ricula. Of  all  great  cities  New  York  can  most  easily  develop  differen- 
tiated curricula,  because  the  different  nationalities  live  for  the  most  part 
in  compact  groups,  and,  when  they  move,  they  usually  pass  from  one 
section  of  the  city  to  another  section  inhabited  by  people  of  their  nation- 
ality. For  example,  there  are  the  Jewish,  Italian,  German,  Irish,  Fin- 
nish and  Chinese  settlements.  Jewish  people  leaving  the  East  Side 
of  Manhattan  usually  go  to  the  Bronx  or  to  the  Brownsville  district  of 
Brooklyn.  It  is  only  the  third  or  fourth  generation  of  Jewish  immi- 
grants who  move  to  the  upper  West  Side  or  to  the  other  sections  of  the 
city  where  the  school  population  is  most  cosmopolitan. 


CONCLUSION  TWO. 

The  content  of  the  course  of  study  should  be  made  as  practical  as  possible 
and  special  attention  should  be  given  to  the  development  of  commercial, 
industrial  and  vocational  subjects  emphasizing  the  larger  and  more 
important  aspects  of  industrial  and  commercial  activities. 

A  course  of  study,  built  around  human  problems,  and  capable  of 
differentiation  and  of  adjustment  to  meet  the  needs  of  individual  pupils 
should,  according  to  the  experts,  use  for  illustrative  purposes,  as  far  as 
possible,  customs,  activities,  pursuits  and  materials  with  which  the 
pupils  have  had  experiential  relations. 

Professor  Hanus,  in  the  "Report  as  a  Whole,"  says  that  the  pro- 
gram of  studies  in  our  public  schools  must  cover : 

(a)  The  school  arts — reading,  writing,  arithmetic; 

(b)  Language  and  literature  (modern  and  ancient)  ; 


l6  EDUCATIONAL   INVESTIGATION 

(c)  History,  government  and  economics ; 

(d)  Art  (pictorial  and  plastic  art,  constructive  art,  and  music)  ; 

(e)  Mathematics; 

(f)  Natural  science: 

(g)  Manual  arts  and  domestic  arts; 

(h)   Physical  education,  including  physical  training  and  athletics; 
(i)   Vocational  guidance. 

Some  school  systems  have  made  changes  in  the  course  in  arithmetic 
and  provide  for  the  teaching  of  simple  bookkeeping,  which  will  enable 
children  to  keep  simple  personal  and  family  accounts,  before  bank  dis- 
count is  taught.  Elementary  arithmetic  is  taught  in  terms  of  the  store, 
the  shop  and  the  foundry,  instead  of  in  terms  of  general  commerce  and 
international  trade.  Professor  Schneider  has  indicated  in  his  report 
how  such  a  course  in  arithmetic  and  other  correlated  subjects  is  not  less 
cultural  than  the  present  course.  He  maintains  that  it  is  more  cultural 
because  it  and  other  subjects  taught  in  terms  of  actual  life  will  help 
children  to  master  their  environment  rather  than  to  be  mastered  by  it. 
In  this  connection  it  is  pertinent  to  note  that  the  Board  of  Education 
has  directed  that  a  trial  be  made  of  a  course  of  study  in  arithmetic 
which  was  worked  out  by  the  Committee  on  Studies  and  Text  Books 
and  which  is  simpler  and  more  concrete  than  the  former  course. 

The  fact  that  the  industrial  and  commercial  army  is  recruited,  for 
the  most  part,  from  the  elementary  school,  necessitates  a  differentiated 
course  of  study,  according  to  Professor  Hanus.  In  the  "Report  as  a 
Whole"  he  says : 

"It  seems  to  me  important  that  greatly  increased  flexibility  in  subject  matter  and 
administration  should  characterize  the  instruction  of  the  last  two  elementary  school 
years  in  harmony  with  the  varying  future  careers  of  the  pupils.  Some  of  the  pupils 
are  going  on  to  the  high  schools,  some  are  going  into  industry  or  commerce  or  home 
life  as  soon  as  they  are  freed  from  school  by  the  compulsory  attendance  law.  Many 
of  the  pupils  in  these  years  are  over  age  and  have  no  interest  in  the  usual  'academic' 
work  beyond  reaching  the  standard  that  will  set  them  free.  In  any  case  a  single  uni- 
form course  of  study  for  these  pupils  is  not  satisfactory  in  view  of  their  different 
purposes;  I  suggest,  therefore,  that  in  a  few  schools,  at  least,  the  experiment  be 
thoroughly  tried  and  appraised  long  enough  to  really  determine  its  value  or  the  reverse, 
of  a  differentiated  course  of  study;  one  for  the  pupils  going  on  to  the  high  schools, 
rich  in  the  usual  academic  studies  (including  a  modern  language,  if  well  taught)  ;  one 
for  pupils  going  into  industry,  rich  in  the  right  kind  of  manual  training  and  in  the 
domestic  arts  for  girls ;  and  a  third  for  boys  and  girls  going  into  stores  or  other 
commercial  shops,  rich  in  elementary  instruction  in  commercial  subjects.  While  no 
one  of  these  differentiated  courses  should  neglect  the  subjects  emphasized  by  the 
others,  the  dominant  subject  matter  should  be  clearly  evident  to  parents  and  pupils 
alike.  Such  differentiated  courses  are  already  established  in  a  near-by  State  and  are 
decidedly  promising  in  ministering  to  social  and  individual  needs,  not  only  holding 
pupils  in  school,  but  giving  them  something  of  real  value  to  them  while  they  remain. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  such  courses  might  prove  to  be  equally  advan- 
tageous in  New  York  City.  This  recommendation  applies  with  special  force  to  the 
intermediate  school,  to  be  discussed  later." 

It  is  obviously  impossible  for  the  school  to  create  artificial  shops, 
foundries,  store  and  manufacturing  plants,  where  pupils  can  be  given 


FINAL   REPORT   OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  17 

practical  training  under  ideal  conditions.  The  cost  of  such  a  procedure 
would  be  prohibitive  if  it  were  possible  or  advisable.  Commenting  on 
this  situation,  Dr.  Frank  V.  Thompson,  in  his  monograph  upon  "Com- 
mercial Education,"  says: 

"Because  the  public  School  has  hitherto  assumed  the  responsibility  for  commercial 
education,  commerce  has  felt  no  responsibility  for  it.  But  the  experience  in  vocation 
(industrial)  education  points  strongly  to  the  general  conclusion  that  the  school  unaided 
cannot  deal  eflFectively  with  the  problem.  Business  men  will  need  to  go  through  the 
evolution  of  thought  which  is  leading  the  mianufacturer  to  assume  his  share  in  indus- 
trial education.  For  reasons  of  efficiency,  expense,  and  expediency,  commercial  train- 
ing^ ti'ill  need  to  be  divided  between  the  school  and  the  business  house.  Business, 
like  industry,  formerly  had  a  system  of  apprenticeship  which  will  need  to  be  re-estab- 
lished in  some  form  of  co-operation  with  the  schools.  In  the  meantime,  the  schools 
must  not  wait ;  a  plan  which  is  immediately  possible  must  be  undertaken ;  and  the 
practical  co-operation  between  the  school  and  business  must  be  constantly  aimed  at." 

In  other  words,  as  Professor  Hanus  states  it : 

"The  solution  of  the  problem  of  satisfactory  commercial  education  must  be  solved  _ 
in  the  co-operation  of  commerce  and  education,  just  as  the  solution  of  the  problem  of' 
industrial  education  is  sought  in  the  co-operation   of  industry  and   education.     Com- 
merce, like  industry,  must  recognize  its  responsibility  to  the  thousands  of  young  lives 
devoted  to  its  service." 

Dr.  Thompson  states  at  another  point : 

"New  York  City's  commercial  courses  are  academic  rather  than  vocational.  The 
general  subjects  in  the  course  are  in  most  cases  not  related  to  the  vocational;  the 
specific  vocational  subjects  cover  only  a  part  of  the  vocation,  and  the  lesser  part  at 
that.  Compared  with  the  vocational  industrial  courses  taken  as  a  type,  the  commercial 
courses  under  consideration  have  so  small  a  connection  with  commerce  that  they  can- 
not be  strictly  classified  as  vocational." 

"The  contemporary  conception  of  commercial  education  in  New  York  City  should 
be  largely  extended,  and  should  emphasize  the  larger  and  more  important  aspects  of 
commercial  activities,  such  as  merchandising,  salesmanship,  business  organization,  and 
advertising." 

It  has  been  conclusively  demonstrated  by  Dean  Herman  Schneider, 
of  the  College  of  Engineering  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati,  that  the 
school  and  shop  can  work  together : 

"If  the  one  common  ground  will  be  the  mutually  safe  ground  of  the  mental,  phys- 
ical and  the  moral  advancement  of  those  who  work.  This  will  seem  to  the  superficial 
critic  a  too  ideal  basis  on  which  to  do  business  in  this  day  and  generation.  He  will 
probably  agree  that  it  is  a  nice  scheme  to  have  in  mind,  but  an  impossible  one  on 
which  to  operate.  There  is  but  one  satisfactory  answer  to  this,  namely,  that  the  thing 
is  being  done  and  is  being  done  satisfactorily." 

The  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem  involving  the  relation  of 
schools  to  industry,  as  stated  by  Dean  Schneider,  is  found  in  education 
accompanying  gainful  employment — in  the  cooperation  of  industry  and 
education.  This  cooperation,  according  to  Dean  Schneider,  may  be 
best  effected  in  two  distinct  ways :  by  organizing  cooperative  or  part- 
time  vocational  schools,  and  by  continuation  schools.  The  former  is 
based  on  an  agreement  between  the  school  system  and  a  group  of  manu- 

'  Italics  not  in  original. 


l8  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

facturers.  whereby  the  manufacturers  give  appropriate  shop  instruc- 
tion to  groups  of  apprentices,  and  the  schools  the  accompanying  related 
theoretical  and  general  instruction.  The  apprentices  receiving  this  in- 
struction are  subdivided  so  that  the  two  divisions  of  the  group  alternate 
between  shop  work  and  school  attendance.  The  apprentices  receive  the 
usual  apprentice  pay  for  their  work.  The  schools  have  no  practice 
shops,  since  the  industries  themselves  provide  the  shop  training  re- 
quired. The  latter,  the  continuation  schools,  are  based  on  an  agree- 
ment by  the  employers  to  release  their  youthful  employees  at  periods 
when  they  can  best  be  spared  for  a  limited  time,  a  half-day  or  a  day 
altogether,  per  week,  for  appropriate  instruction  by  the  school  system. 
In  Ohio  the  law  makes  the  continuation  school  compulsory. 
Dr.  Schneider  says : 

"Objection  is  frequently  made  on  the  part  of  shop  owners  to  the  cooperative  sys- 
tem on  the  assumption  that  alternating  sets  of  students  would  cause  confusion  and 
inconvenience  to  the  shop  organization.  Experience  covering  a  period  of  four  years — at 
Fitchburg,  Mass.;  Solvay,  N.  Y. ;  and  Chicago,  111. — shows  that  this  assumption  is 
false." 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
first  steps  showing  the  practicability  of  the  cooperative  plan  suggested  by 
Dean  Schneider  have  already  been  taken  in  New  York's  day  elementary 
schools  and  evening  schools.  Superintendent  Shiels  has  introduced  the 
plan  in  the  evening  schools,  and  it  is  now  being  tried  out  in  Public 
School  No.  4,  Manhattan,  through  the  cooperation  of  several  white 
goods'  manufacturers  with  that  school. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor's  Committee  on  Industrial  Edu- 
cation reported,  after  careful  study,  in  favor  of  the  extension  of  the 
cooperative  plan,  and  called  particular  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
plan  did  not  permit  of  the  exploitation  of  the  schools  by  commercial 
and  industrial  interests. 


CONCLUSION  THREE. 

The  Board  of  Education  should  take  necessary  steps  to  effect  the  gradual 
elimination  of  teachers  of  special  branches. 

The  revision  of  the  course  of  study  along  the  lines  indicated  by  the 
specialists  employed  by  the  Committee  will  make  the  gradual  elimina- 
tion of  teachers  of  special  branches  possible,  now  numbering  about  429, 
exclusive  of  kindergartens,  and  costing  nearly  $500,000  per  annum.  In 
his  report  upon  "The  System  of  General  Supervision  and  the  Board  of 


FINAL   REPORT   OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  19 

Examiners,"  Professor  Edward  C.  Elliott  discusses  the  general,  social 
and  educational  policies  which  condition  the  teaching  of  the  special 
branches  as  follows : 

"By  their  nature  the  effective  development  of  the  special  branches  presents  not 
only  numerous  special  problems  of  instruction  and  supervision,  but,  in  addition,  certain 
complex  issues  of  general,  social  and  educational  policy.  Notwithstanding  the  years 
of  their  testing,  the  special  branches  have  not  succeeded  in  attaining  a  recognized  and 
guaranteed  place  in  the  program  of  studies  of  public  schools.  Their  introduction  has 
come  only  after  an  energetic  and  insistent  campaign  by  those  who  have  been  convinced 
of  their  essential  worth  in  popular  education.  Their  further  extension,  after  introduc- 
tion and  recognition,  has  been  dependent  upon  various  fortuitous  circumstances,  such 
as  varying  available  financial  resources,  and  the  extent  to  which  public  interest  has 
been  aroused.  Even  with  these  things  in  mind  the  fundamental  fact  must  not  be 
overlooked  that  the  successful  incorporation  of  the  special  branches  into  the  program 
of  studies  of  elementary  schools  especially  will  take  place  only  as  the  branches  are  in 
the  hands  of  teachers  and  supervisors  of  training,  merit,  skill  and  balance. 

"Our  conclusion  is  that  steps  should  be  taken  at  once  to  render  unnecessary  the 
majority  of  the  special  teachers  in  music,  drawing,  and  physical  training,  and  to  facili- 
tate and  hasten  the  effective  qualifications  of  regular  class  teachers.  Those  teachers 
who  are  qualified  should  receive  an  appropriate  salary  bonus.  As  long  as  the  teaching 
of  these  subjects  is  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  a  special  group  of  teachers,  not  only  will 
the  public  continue  to  have  reservations  as  to  the  rightful  place  of  such  subjects  in 
elementary  education,  but  the  regular  teachers  themselves  will  not  be  ready  to  assume 
responsibility  for  this  special  instruction,  nor  will  principals  consider  it  as  among  the 
objects  of  necessary  attention." 

The  presentment  of  the  City  Superintendent  of  Schools,  in  his 
twelfth  annual  report,  relative  to  the  curtailment  of  the  force  of  special 
teachers,  explains  the  necessity  for  reducing  the  salaries  of  such  teach- 
ers then  in  the  service,  or  for  abolishing  a  certain  number  of  such  posi- 
tions, by  the  fact  that  the  budget  appropriations  for  the  year  191 1  were 
not  sufficient  to  carry  the  then  existing  corps.  "Had  it  (the  curtail- 
ment) been  deferred  five  years  longer,"  said  the  City  Superintendent, 
"it  is  probable  that  the  special  teachers  of  singing,  sewing,  physical 
training  and  drawing  might  have  been  dispensed  with,  without  serious 
injury  to  the  schools." 

It  was  said  by  representatives  of  the  Board  of  Education,  during  the 
budget  hearings  in  October,  19 10,  that  these  teachers  were  employed 
because  there  was  great  need  to  improve  the  class  work  of  the  older 
teachers  in  the  system,  who  received  their  education  before  new  sub- 
jects were  introduced  into  the  curriculum  and  before  many  subjects  in 
the  course  of  study  had  been  given  a  new  content.  It  was  made  plain, 
however,  that  the  work  of  the  special  teachers  was  not  carried  on  under 
any  direct  control.  The  special  teachers  were  teaching  old  teachers,  as 
well  as  the  new  teachers,  who  were  supposed  to  have  been  prepared  in 
the  city's  training  schools  to  teach  the  modern  subjects. 

Whether  or  not  it  will  be  more  satisfactory  for  the  system  if  these 
special  teachers  are  taken  over  and  given  regular  work,  is  a  matter  the 
Board  of  Education  will  do  well  to  consider.  The  Director  of  Physical 
Training  advises  that  the  supervisors  of  this  special  branch  should  be 
the  last  to  be  eliminated. 


20  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

CONCLUSION  FOUR. 

Each  school  as  a  neighborhood  centre  should  ally  itself  with  neighborhood 
interests  and  take  cognizance  of  local  needs. 

There  is  a  general  agreement  in  the  reports  submitted  to  the  Com- 
mittee that  the  plan  of  procedure  of  each  school  should  be  dependent 
upon  its  individual  conditions,  and  should  not  be  controlled  by  the  con- 
ditions in  other  school  districts,  as  has  been  indicated  in  the  foregoing 
discussion.  .  If  this  plan  be  established,  it  is  argued  that  it  will  then 
be  possible  for  the  school  to  function,  not  only  with  respect  to  local 
needs,  but  also  as  a  center  for  the  dissemination  of  culture  in  the  entire 
city.  As  brought  out  by  Dr.  McMurry,  this  may  be  possible,  provided 
the  principal  is  made  the  real  and  not  merely  the  nominal  head  of  his 
school.  To  this  end  he  and  his  teachers  should  take  the  initiative  in 
making  the  curriculum  in  all  subjects  for  their  school.  The  possibility 
of  carrying  this  into  effect  is  undoubtedly  conditioned  by  the  amount 
of  unassigned  time  which  is  allowed  to  the  principal  and  his  teachers. 

The  attention  of  the  Committee  has  been  called  also  to  the  overbur- 
dening of  pupils  with  excessive  home  work,  and  home  study  assign- 
ments, especially  so  in  the  departmental  grades  and  in  the  high  schools, 
due  undoubtedly  to  the  lack  of  coordination  among  the  several  depart- 
mental teachers.  In  this  connection  the  necessity  for  an  investigation 
into  this  special  phase  of  the  school  problem  is  emphasized,  and  the 
suggestion  for  frequent  conferences  of  teachers  in  departmental  and 
in  high  school  grades  on  the  subject  in  question  is  urgently  recom- 
mended. 

As  to  the  syllabi  -  furnished  the  principals  and  his  teachers.  Dr. 
McMurry  recommends  that  such  syllabi  should  discuss  methods  in  a 
way  that  will  in  no  sense  tend  to  tie  the  principal's  hands  or  those  of 
his  teachers. 

Answers  of  principals  to  questions  propounded  by  the  specialists 
engaged  by  the  Committee  contain  admissions  by  principals  to  the  ef- 
fect that  their  main  efforts  are  directed  to  other  matters  than  to  the 
improvement  of  the  instruction.  Discussing  the  powers  and  duties  of 
elementary  school  principals.  Professor  Elliott,  in  his  monograph  on 
"The  System  of  General  Supervision  and  the  Board  of  Examiners," 
maintains  that,  while  the  by-laws  make  the  principal  "the  responsible 
administrative  head"  of  his  school,  and  that  the  spirit  of  the  by-laws 
places  upon  him  a  large  supervisory  responsibility,  in  fact,  however, 
the  principal  has  no  real  supervisory  independence,  or  initiative,  what- 
sover.    Professor  Elliott  says  : 

"Practically  all  of  the  constructive  features  of  his  work  are  under  the  immediate 
control  of  the  Board  of  Superintendents,  the  associate  superintendent,  or  the  district 
superintendent.  In  the  last  analysis  the  ineffectiveness  of  the  elementary  schools  of  the 
city  may  be  measured  by  the  extent  to  which  the  principals  fail  to  perform,  or  are 
prevented  from  performing,  those  activities  that  are  the  rightful  functions  of  their 
offices." 


FINAL   REPORT   Oh'   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  21 

In  his  report,  entitled  'Troblems  in  Organization  and  Administra- 
tion of  High  Schools,"  Dr.  Frank  \\\  Ballon  has  pointed  out  that  the 
high  school  principals  in  this  city  are  cramped  in  the  same  way  that 
the  elementary  school  principals  are,  and  that  they  should  be  released 
from  clerical  and  administrative  routine,  to  the  end  that  they  may  be 
enabled  to  contribute  the  results  of  their  experience  and  their  knowl- 
edge to  the  solution  of  high  school  problems.  Dr.  Ballou  maintains 
that  the  principal  can  be  released  from  routine  work  only  b}-  the  stand- 
ardization of  the  work  of  principals,  heads  of  departments  and  teach- 
ers. Whether  this  means  that  provision  must  be  made  for  especially 
qualified  statistical  clerks,  of  different  character  from  those  now  as- 
signed to  do  routine  work,  the  Board  of  Education  should  take  steps  to 
determine. 

Professor  Elliott  has  pointed  out  that  the  weakness  of  the  present 
system  is  its  centralized  control  and  its  failure  to  provide  for  checking 
and  evaluating  processes.    He  says : 

"The  schools  have  lacked  an  audit  that  would  exhibit  how  all  that  which  is  being 
attempted  is  being  done,  an  audit  that  would  reveal  the  degree  to  which  the  machinery 
of  organization  is  adapted  to  its  purpose ;  an  audit  that  would  display  the  essential 
facts  of  the  census,  attendance  and  rate  of  progress  of  pupils,  the  accomplishments  of 
teachers,  and  an  analysis  of  the  real  cost  in  money  of  the  several  and  numerous  activ- 
ities that  enter  into  school  education.  The  more  important  of  these  facts  New  York 
City  does  not  know   to-day." 

The  Bureau  of  Investigation  and  Appraisal,  suggested  by  Professor 
Elliott,  if  established  would  become  the  centralizing  and  unifying  force 
in  the  system  adjusted  on  an  absolutely  impersonal  basis.    He  says : 

"This  bureau  or  division  should  be  in  charge  of  a  chief  or  superintendent  who  is 
directly  responsible  to  the  Board  of  Education,  and  should  be  organized  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  enable  it  to  serve  as  the  central  agency  for  the  gathering  and  interpreta- 
tion of  statistical  and  other  data  with  reference  to  the  schools ;  and  also  for  the  carry- 
ing on  of  such  investigations  as  are  necessary  for  the  rational  development  and  expan- 
sion of  the  school  system."     ■ 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that,  if  schools  were  organized  to  meet  neighbor- 
hood needs,  and  if  the  work  were  standardized  and  organized,  as  indi- 
cated above,  the  arguments  for  small  schools  would  lose  much  of  their 
force.  It  would  seem  that,  in  view  of  the  high  cost  of  land  and  build- 
ings, and  the  greater  cost  of  administering  differentiated  curricula  in 
small  schools  than  in  larger,  that  the  city  should  not  attempt  to  provide 
school  buildings,  seating  only  1.500  pupils,  until  after  the  present  methods 
of  administering  large  schools  have  been  revised,  and  it  has  been  deter- 
mined finally  that  small  schools  are  necessary. 


22  EDUCATIONAL   INVESTIGATION 

CONCLUSION  FIVE. 

The  Board  of  Education  should  make  a  careful  investigation  to  ascertain 
whether  cosmopoUtan  or  composite  high  schools  offering  several  different 
courses  of  study  or  small  high  schools  with  differentiated  curricula 
should  be  developed. 

The  report  of  one  of  the  specialists  employed  by  the  Committee 
contains  a  recommendation  for  small  schools  with  specialized  curricula.^ 
Another  report  offers  a  type  course  of  study  which  apparently  contem- 
plates the  development  of  the  cosmopolitan  or  composite  type  of  high 
school. - 

Your  Committee  does  not  attempt  to  pass  final  judgment  upon  the 
educational  questions  involved.  It  does,  however,  maintain  that  high 
schools  with  specialized  curricula  are  unduly  expensive,  because  they 
provide  many  small  classes,  and  because  more  buildings  are  required, 
necessitating  the  duplication  of  auditoriums,  gymnasia,  playrooms  and 
playgrounds.  Experience  has  indicated  that  differentiation  in  the 
course  of  study  is  possible  where  pupils,  pursuing  different  courses,  may 
be  gathered  together  to  take  certain  special  work  in  common  subjects; 
for  example,  those  taking  the  classical  course  may  join  with  those  pur- 
suing commercial,  manual  training,  or  technical  courses  in  making  up 
a  class  in  practical  civics,  elementary  political  economy,  elementary 
chemistry,  botany,  physiology  or  physical  geography.  In  small  schools 
with  a  specialized  curricula  special  classes  in  any  of  these  subjects 
might  be  impossible,  because  of  the  expense  involved  in  providing  a 
teacher  for  a  few  pupils. 

As  a  matter  of  general  observation  it  is  manifest  that  the  cosmopoli- 
tan type  of  high  school  tends  to  obliterate  class  distinction,  while  the 
small  specialized  high  school  tends  to  emphasize  class  distinction.  The 
plumber's  son  and  the  merchant's  son  walk  about  the  same  halls,  recite 
in  the  same  rooms  and  play  on  the  same  athletic  teams  of  the  cosmo- 
politan school,  although  pursuing  very  different  courses  of  study.  All 
sorts  of  problems  relating  to  human  life  and  human  relations  stand 
upon  an  equal  footing  in  the  cosmopolitan  high  school,  whereas  there  is 
some  danger  that  the  extension  of  the  small  specialized  high  school  with 
specialized  curricula  may  tend  to  keep  alive  the  class  distinctions  which 
have  arisen  in  the  past  because  of  the  different  pursuits  people  have 
followed.  It  has  been  argued  that  the  establishment  of  engineering 
courses  in  regular  colleges  has  been  instrumental  in  improving  the  so- 
cial status  of  the  engineer.  Many  careful  observers  point  out"  that  the 
establishment  of  vocational  schools  and  the  teaching  of  manual  train- 
ing and  vocational  subjects  in  the  high  schools  have  had  the  same 
effect.  The  establishment  of  small  specialized  schools  may  react  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and,  if  so,  they  may  become  undemocratic. 

*  Report  of  Frank  W.  Ballou,  pp. 

*  Report  of  Calvin  O.  Davis,  pp. 


FINAL    REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  23 

The  New  York  City  Central  Council  of  Teachers'  Associations, 
which  has  been  studying  the  reports  submitted  to  this  Committee  by  the 
various  specialists,  has  collected  a  great  deal  of  information  bearing 
upon  this  question.  Their  report  indicates  that  the  weight  of  educa- 
tional opinion  is  in  favor  of  the  cosmopolitan  type  of  high  school. 

Because  of  the  density  of  population  in  New  York  City,  we  fear 
that  the  cost  of  small  specialized  high  schools  would  be  practically  pro- 
hibitive. On  the  other  hand,  this  same  density  of  population  makes 
feasible  and  economical  the  large  high  school  building,  as  it  makes 
possible  a  most  intensive  use  of  auditoriums,  gymnasia  and  athletic 
fields.  These  last  mentioned  facilities  make  provision  for  outside 
recreational  activities  which  belong  in  a  modern  high  school.  In  the 
case  of  small  high  schools  these  facilities  must  be  duplicated  without 
providing  for  any  activities  which  cannot  be  carried  out  as  well  in  a 
larger  building,  where  the  daily  program  is  properly  organized. 

Some  of  the  difficulties  met  with  in  conducting  the  large  cosmo- 
politan high  schools  are  due  to  the  fact  that  our  schools  have  not 
adopted  modern  administrative  methods,  and  have  not  standardized  the 
work  sufficiently  to  permit  of  a  proper  division  of  labor. ^  Steps 
should  be  taken  to  ascertain  whether  the  educational  problems  involved 
cannot  be  met  by  careful  study  and  appraisal  of  results. 


CONCLUSION  SIX. 

The  Board  of  Education,  through  the  proposed  Bureau  of  Investigation  and 
Appraisal  or  other  bureau,  should  establish  a  fact  basis  for  its  educa- 
tional, administrative  and  financial  work. 

It  is  impracticable  for  the  Board  of  Education  to  deal  intelligently 
with  its  many  difficult  problems,  unless  it  has  at  hand  basic  data  show- 
ing actual  school  conditions.  If  such  data  are  not  available,  it  is 
impossible  for  the  Board  of  Education  to  know  and  to  indicate  to  the 
city  and  to  the  general  public  what  the  fundamental  achievements  and 
needs  of  the  system  are.  Alost  of  the  present  reports  examined  during 
the  course  of  the  inquiry  have  been  found  to  be  unsatisfactory  and  in- 
adequate. The  information  collected  upon  them  has  been,  in  many 
cases,  found  to  be  misleading. 

The  specialists  engaged  by  the  Committee  agree  in  general  that  the 
current  reports  of  the  Board  of  Education  should  furnish  data  as  to 
the  following  conditions  in  each  school : 

*  See  report  of  F.  W.  Ballon,  Problems  in  the  Administration  of  High  Schools, 
page . 


24  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

1.  The  number  of  boys  and  girls  in  each  grade, 

2.  The  actual  size  of  classes. 

3.  The  number  of   full-time   classes,  part-time  classes  and  alter- 

nating classes. 

4.  The  age-grade  distribution  of  pupils. 

5.  The  nationalities  of  pupils. 

6.  The  number  and  actual  size  of  available  rooms. 

7.  The  adaptability  of  classrooms  and  of  the  equipment  of  build- 

ings and  playgrounds. 

With  such  basic  data  available  the  Bureau  of  Investigation  and  Ap- 
praisal, suggested  by  Prof.  Hanus  and  his  cooperating  assistants,  will 
be  able  to  carry  forward  continuous  studies  of  highly  important  educa- 
tional problems.  Many  of  these  problems  have  been  discussed  in  the 
investigators'  reports  submitted  to  this  Committee.  Some  of  these 
problems  are  indicated  below. 

(i)  What  is  the  proper  size  of  an  elementary  school  class  and  of 
a  high  school  class?  (See  "Report  on  Promotion,  Non-promotion  and 
Part-time."  by  Bachman,  and  "Report  on  Problems  in  Organization  and 
Administration  of  High  Schools,"  by  Ballou. ) 

(2)  What  are  the  proper  limits  of  the  period  of  elementary  edu- 
cation '' 

(3;  What  should  be  the  qualitative  and  quantitative  requirements 
of  the  courses  of  study  in  the  elementary  school  and  in  the  high 
school?  (See  "Report  on  the  Course  of  Study,"  by  McMurry;  "Report 
on  Course  of  Study  in  High  Schools,"  by  Davis;  "Report  on  Commercial 
Education,"  by  Thompson,  and  "Report  on  Vocational  (Industrial) 
Schools,"  by  Schneider.) 

(4)  What  should  be  the  normal  rate  of  promotion  in  classes? 
(See  "Report  on  Promotion,  Non-promotion  and  Part-time,"  by  Bach- 
man.) 

(5)  At  what  age  is  it  best  for  the  child  to  enter  the  elementary 
school  ? 

(6)  What  has  been  the  efifect  of  part-time  in  the  lower  grades 
and  in  the  upper  grades;  and  in  just  what  way  is  school  progress  af- 
fected thereby?  (See  "Reports  on  Promotion,  Non-promotion  and 
Part-time,"  and  on  "Over-age  and  Method  of  Determining  Over-age," 
by  Bachman.) 

(7)  What  are  the  possibilities  for  the  elimination  of  part-time? 
(a)     By  means  of  the  transfer  of  pupils  to  other  schools, 

by  readjusting  daily  programs  of  study  and  time 
schedules,  and  by  organizing  intermediate  schools. 
(See  "Report  on  Intermediate  Schools,"  by  Bach- 
man.) 


FINAL   REPORT   OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  25 

(b)  By  means  of  the  Ettinger  part-time  plan,  and  its  possi- 
ble extension  throughout  the  entire  system.  (See 
"Report  on  Promotion,  Non-promotion  and  Part- 
time,"  by  Bachman.) 

(8)  How  does  the  transfer  of  pupils  from  school  to  school  affect 
their  grade  advancement? 

(9)  Is  it  advisable  to  extend  the  group-teaching  plan,  now  con- 
fined to  the  lower  primary  grades,  to  all  the  grades  of  the  school? 

(a)  Economic  advantages  of  the  plan. 

(b)  Educational  advantages  of  the  plan, 

(10)  To  what  extent  may  the  school  work  be  improved  by  the 
scientific  measurement  of  individual  abilities  and  aptitudes? 

(a)  By  means  of  the  Courtis  tests.      (See  "Report  on  the 

Courtis  Tests  in  Arithmetic,"  by  Courtis.) 

(b)  By  employing  the  Binet-Simon  measuring  scale  of  in- 

telligence.    (See  "Report  on  Ungraded  Classes,"  by 
Goddard.) 

(11)  How  may  the  available  facts  which  relate  to  the  compulsory 
attendance  service  and  to  the  prevention  and  treatment  of  truancy  be 
utilized  for  purposes  of  legislation,  criticism,  advice  and  administrative 
control?  (See  "Report  on  the  Compulsory  Attendance  Service,"  by 
Burks.) 

(12)  What  are  the  possibilities  for  effecting  a  proper  cooperation 
between  the  schools,  the  industrial  trades  and  the  commercial  houses? 
(See  "Report  on  Vocational  (Industrial)  Schools,"  by  Schneider; 
"Report  on  Commercial  Education,"  by  Thompson:  and  the  "Report 
on  the  Courtis  Tests  in  Arithmetic,"  by  Courtis.) 

(13)  How  may  a  proper  standardization  of  teachers'  ratings  be 
established?  (See  "Report  on  the  System  of  General  Supervision  and 
the  Board  of  Examiners,"  by  Elliott.) 

(14)  What  is  the  probable  annual  growth  and  distribution  of  the 
school  population?  (See  "Report  on  Estimating  for  Budget  Purposes 
the  Number  of  Teachers  Needed  in  the  Elementary  Schools,"  by  Bach- 
man; and  the  "Report  on  New  York  Public  Schools — Delays  in  Their 
Location,  Design  and  Construction — Remedies  Suggested,"  by  Arm- 
strong. ) 

(15)  What  provisions  should  be  made  for  the  wider  use  of  the 
school  plant?  (See  "Reports  on  the  New  York  Public  Schools"  and 
"The  Condition  and  Efficiency  of  Public  School  Buildings  of  the  City 
of  New  York,"  by  Armstrong;  and  the  supplementary  report  on  "The 
Economic  Utilization  of  the  Public  School  Plant  for  Educational  and 
Recreational  Purposes,"  by  Howe.) 

( 16)  How  does  the  system  of  ventilation  in  the  classroom  and  the 
quality  of  air-supply  affect  the  health  and  progress  of  school  children? 


26  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

(See  "Reports  on  the  Condition  and  Efficiency  of  Public  School  Build- 
ings of  the  City  of  New  York,"  by  Armstrong;  and  joint  report  on 
"Ventilation  Conditions  and  the  Quality  of  Air  Supplied  to  Classrooms 
in  the  City  of  New  ^'ork,''  by  Armstrong,  Baskerville,  W'inslow  and 
Lucas. 

The  fundamental  purpose  of  the  Committee's  investigation  was,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  to  collect  facts  on  school  conditions  and  to  show 
how  statistical  and  experimental  methods  may  be  applied  to  the  work  of 
the  schools,  rather  than  to  set  up  any  definite  and  final  conclusions  as 
to  the  solution  of  local  school  problems. 

Items  I.  3,  4,  6.  7,  10,  II,  12,  13,  14,  15  and  16,  in  the  foregoing 
list  of  problems,  have  been  studied  during  the  course  of  the  investiga- 
tion. The  study  of  these  problems  should  be  carried  on  continuously 
along  the  lines  indicated  in  the  reports,  or  in,  such  way  as  the  further 
conduct  of  these  inquiries  may  indicate.  Items  2,  5,  8  and  9  are  merely 
indicated  in  the  various  reports. 

The  Board  of  Education  has  recently  undertaken  studies  of  some 
of  these  problems,  or  of  problems  closely  allied  thereto.  There  is  the 
same  need  for  continuous  studies  of  all  these  vital  problems.  Accord- 
ing to  the  specialists  employed  by  the  Committee,  if  the  results  of  these 
studies  are  properly  tested,  and  the  related  facts  scientifically  assem- 
bled, each  half-year  of  school  work  will  yield  additional  evidence  bear- 
ing' upon  all  these  inquiries,  and  the  Board  of  Education  may  safely 
depend  upon  such  experimental  data  and  evidence  for  its  proper  guid- 
ance. If  the  Board  of  Education  will  from  this  time  on  formulate  defi- 
nite programs  for  the  conduct  of  its  work,  and  make  provision  for  test- 
ing that  work  as  it  progresses,  the  purpose  of  the  inquiry  wall  have  been 
accomplished. 


CONCLUSION  SEVEN. 

The  Board  of  Education's  Attendance  Department  should  adjust  its  work 
so  as  to  maintain  discipline  and  control  school  attendance  without 
resorting  to  police  methods  in  checking  truancy. 

The  relation  of  the  maintenance  of  discipline  to  compulsory  attend- 
ance is  obvious.  Dr.  Jesse  D.  Burks,  in  his  report  upon  "The  Compul- 
sory Attendance  Service,"  says : 

"The  compulsory  attendance  service,  as  at  present  organized  and  conducted,  limits 
its  functions  very  largely  to  the  performance  of  police  functions  related  to  the  enforce- 
ment of  school  attendance.  Its  investigations  are  directed  chiefly  to  the  immediate 
explanation  and  checking  of  truancy  and  irregularity,  rather  than  to  the  discovery  and 


FINAL    REPORT    OF   SCHOOL    INQUIRY  27 

treatment  of  deeper  causes.  This  point  of  view  is  not  only  made  evident  by  the 
emphasis  in  the  annual  and  current  reports,  which  is  placed  upon  the  return  of  children 
to  school,  arraignment  of  delinquent  pupils,  and  prosecution  of  parents ;  and  by  the 
relatively  small  attention  to  an  analysis  of  family  influences,  physical  and  mental  condi- 
tion of  delinquents,  and  cooperation  of  various  social  agencies,  but  it  is  distinctly 
stated  by  the  superintendent  of  schools  in  his  letter  transmitting  to  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation the  report  on  the  enforcement  of  the  compulsory  education  law  for  the  year 
1910-11.  Commenting  upon  the  relation  of  the  work  of  attendance  officers  to  that  of 
'visiting  teachers'  he  says :  'The  function  of  the  former  is  to  cure  truancy ;  of  the 
latter,  not  only  to  prevent  truancy  but  to  cure  many  other  ills  that  arise  in  connection 
■with   exceptional  pupils.' " 

The  significance  to  the  community  of  extending  the  attendance 
service  beyond  the  mere  control  of  truancy  is  further  emphasized  by 
Dr.  Burks,  in  a  statement  of  the  distribution  of  pupils  by  grade  and  the 
■extent  of  absence  of  pupils  in  regular  classes  for  the  half-year  ending 
June,  191 1.  In  this  statement  the  expert  shows  that  about  90,000  chil- 
dren were  absent  during  the  half-year  ending  June  i,  191 1,  for  at  least 
•one  school  month;  30,000  of  these  having  been  absent  over  two  full 
school  months.  Yet  only  6,579  childi'en  were  reported  by  attendance 
•officers  as  having  been  truants  for. five  days  or  more  during  the  entire 
year.     Dr.  Burks  says : 

"At  a  time  when  the  attention  of  school  officers  is  so  largely  directed  toward  plans 
for  reducing  non-promotion,  retardation  and  school  mortality;  when  vast  sums  are 
teing  spent  on  special  and  ungraded  classes  and  vacation  schools,  this  contrast  suggests 
"broad  possibilities  for  the  extension  and  strengthening  of  attendance  work.  .  .  .  Im- 
portant as  it  unquestionably  is  to  discover  and  control  truancy  in  its  incipiency,  it  is 
•obvious  that  the  occasional  truant  is  not  the  only  problem  maker.  A  conservative  pro- 
gram of  attendance  control  must  find  effective  means  for  dealing  with  the  very  large 
■number  of  children  who,  by  sporadic  absence  for  trivial  causes,  rot  only  lessen  their 
own  chances  for  making  satisfactory  progress  in  school,  but,  by  requiring  an  undue 
amount  of  the  attention  of  the  teachers,  handicap  those  pupils  who  are  regular  in 
.attendance." 

With  a  view  to  facilitating  the  economical  and  efficient  perform- 
ance of  the  functions  involved  in  a  complete  and  well-ordered  attend- 
ance service,  the  following  proposals  are  submitted  in  Dr.  Burks's  re- 
port : 

(i)  That  an  organization,  responsible  to  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, be  constituted — to  be  known  as  the  "Attendance  Bureau" — to  which 
shall  be  assigned  all  functions  directly  concerned  with  (a)  the  enumera- 
tion of  children  of  school  age;  (b)  the  determination  of  the  fact  of 
enrollment  or  non-enrollment  of  each  child  so  enumerated;  (c)  the  in- 
vestigation of  cases  of  non-enrollment  and  non-attendance;  and  (d) 
the  prevention,  treatment  and  cure  of  truancy,  non-attendance  and 
•other  irregularities  of  attendance. 

(2)  That  administrative  responsibility  be  completely  vested  in  a 
chief  of  the  attendance  bureau,  who  shall  devote  his  entire  attention 
to  the  problems  of  administration,  and  who  shall  report  directly  to  the 
City  Superintendent  of  Schools. 


28  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

(3)  That  a  district  supervisor  be  placed  in  charge  of  the  attend- 
ance service  in  cacli  of  the  achninistrativc  districts  into  which  the  city 
is  divided  for  the  general  management  of  the  school  system;  and  that 
such  district  sujjervisors  be  made  responsible  directly  to  the  chief  of  the 
attendance  bureau. 

(4)  That  district  superintendents  be  given  responsibility  for  con- 
ducting judicial  hearings  in  such  cases  as  may  be  brought  before  them 
on  charges  preferred  by  the  supervising  attendance  officers;  the  deci- 
sions of  district  superintendents  in  such  cases  to  be  executed  by  the 
appropriate  officers  of  the  attendance  bureau's  staff;  such  decision  to 
be  subject  to  review  by  the  chief  of  the  attendance  bureau. 

Dr.  Burks  suggests  that  the  staff  of  the  attendance  bureau  be  or- 
ganized, on  a  functional  basis,  into  the  following  four  divisions: 

(a)  Division  of  Enumeration  and  Investigation. 

(b)  Division  of  Prevention  and  Probation. 

(c)  Division  of  Discipline  and  Prosecution. 

(d)  Division  of  Correction. 

Serious  administrative  problems  are  presented  by  persistently  unruly 
children,  says  Professor  McMurry,  in  his  report  upon  "The  Quality  of 
Classroom  Instruction."  In  his  analysis  of  the  problem  the  expert  argues 
that  the  character  of  some  of  the  pupils  in  many  schools  necessitates  a 
change  of  ix)licy  in  the  city  in  relation  to  corporal  punishment.  He  rec- 
ommends that  corporal  punishment  be  administered  under  the  following 
restrictions : 

(a)  That  each  child  first  receive  a  medical  examination. 

(b)  That,  if  possible,  the  written  consent  of  the  father  or  guar- 

dian be  secured. 

(c)  That  such  punishment  be  applied  only  in  the  presence  of  some 

adult  witness. 

(d)  That  accurate  records  be  kept  of  all  cases  of  such  punish- 

ment, together  with  the  conditions  that  led  up  to  them,  and 
the  mode  of  its  administration. 

Dr.  McMurry  states  the  advantages  flowing  from  the  infliction  of 
corporal  punishment,  under  the  foregoing  conditions,  will  be : 

(a)  That  the  number  of  attempted  commitments  to   institutions 

would  be  greatly  diminished,  thereby  avoiding  a  great 
waste  of  time  and  energy  on  the  part  of  district  superin- 
tendents, principals  and  teachers. 

(b)  That  the  mere  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  unruly  pupils 

that  they  may  be  subject  to  corporal  punishment  for  their 
wrong-doing  will  of  itself  make  actual  punishment  unnec- 
essary in  a  great  majority  of  cases. 

(c)  That  the  number  of  cases  of  corporal  punishment  in  the  city 

will  be  reduced  below  the  number  at  the  present  time. 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  2g 

Relative  to  the  foregoing  recommendations  of  Dr.  McMurry  it  is 
worth  while  to  note  that,  while  the  necessity  for  administering  corporal 
punishment  in  extreme  cases  undoubtedly  exists,  the  extension  of  the 
principle  of  self-government,  as  now  worked  out  in  many  schools,  as 
an  adequate  means  of  disciplinary  control  in  general,  certainly  merits 
serious  consideration  on  the  part  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

Unquestionably  the  disciplinary  problem  is,  in  a  large  measure,  due 
to  the  presence  of  abnormal  and  subnormal  children  in  the  local  schools. 
It  is  also  due  to  poor  teaching,  for  which  Dr.  McMurry  says  the  teach- 
ers themselves  are  not  entirely  responsible,  and  to  the  imposition  of  an 
inflexible  and  uninteresting  course  of  study  unrelated  to  the  concrete 
facts  of  child  life. 

It  is  certain  that  the  abnormal  and  subnormal  types  should  not  be 
handled  in  the  regular  school  grades.  In  his  report  on  ungraded 
classes  Dr.  Henry  H.  Goddard  has  indicated  that  the  present  methods 
of  discovering  and  handling  such  mentally  defective  children  now  in  the 
regular  schools  are  entirely  inadequate.  Whether  these  children  are 
to  be  held  under  the  regime  of  the  public  school,  or  to  be  placed  under 
custodial  care,  after  passing  through  some  such  institution  as  the  so- 
called  Clearing  House  for  Mental  Defectives  now  established  and  in 
cooperation  with  the  Department  of  Charities,  only  the  carefully  ap- 
praised results  of  future  investigation  and  experimentation  will  indi- 
cate with  any  degree  of  reliability. 

The  success  of  the  work  in  the  division  of  discipline  and  prosecu- 
tion and  the  division  of  correction  proposed  by  Dr.  Burks  is  dependent 
upon  the  right  kind  of  cooperation  iDctween  the  Compulsory  Attendance 
Department  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  various  children's  and 
magistrates'  courts  in  the  city.  It  has  been  suggested  by  the  Commit- 
tee that  periodic  conferences  be  held  of  representatives  of  all  the  correc- 
tional agencies,  at  which  plans  could  be  mapped  out  for  the  effective 
conduct  of  such  work.  Several  of  these  conferences  have  already  been 
held,  and,  as  a  result,  the  cooperation  of  the  Board  of  Education  has 
been  gained,  and  probationary  classes  have  been  established  in  a  few 
schools  in  Manhattan  as  an  experiment.  Judges  of  the  Children's  Court 
and  the  magistrates  may  now  parole  children  to  attend  these  classes. 

The  fact  that  most  delinquents  are  young,  abnormal  and  subnormal 
boys  and  girls,  as  has  been  pointed  out  in  the  reports  of  the  various 
prison  boards  and  commissions,  clearly  indicates  the  necessity  for  the 
examination  of  all  children  during  their  school  period,  in  order  to 
ascertain  their  physical  and  mental  condition  and  their  respective  ten- 
dencies. 


30  EDUCATIONAL   INVESTIGATION 

CONCLUSION  EIGHT. 

The  Educational  Administrative  Work  of  the  Department  of  Education 
should  be  reorganized. 

After  setting  forth  with  convincing  clearness  the  necessity  for  dis- 
crimination between  the  different  types  of  control,  which  he  denomi- 
nates "legislative,"'  "administrative,"  "supervisory*'  and  "inspectorial," 
Professor  Elliott  says: 

"All  of  the  evidence  considered  during  the  conduct  of  this  portion  of  the  Inquiry 
has  revealed  and  ernphasized  this  important  fact,  namely,  that  there  seems  to  be  no- 
where, at  least  within  the  school  system,  a  clear  and  conscious  discrimination  between 
those  that  are  supervisory  or  inspectorial.  The  absence  of  this  distinction  in  the  minds 
of  those  charged  with  the  main  responsibility,  has  been,  it  is  believed,  an  important 
factor  in  retarding  the  progress  and  complicating  the  development  of  the  public  school 
system." 

In  commenting  upon  the  existing  plan  of  control  the  same  investi- 
gator says : 

"It  is  relevant  at  this  point  to  indicate  one  of  the  principal  conclusions  of  the 
Inquiry.  That,  under  the  existing  organization  and  mode  of  operation,  the  schools  of 
the  city  are  under  the  continued  necessity  of  reacting  to  a  maximum  amount  of 
external  administrative  control,  are  influenced  by  a  minimum  amount  of  competent 
expert  and  constructive  supervision,  and  do  not  receive  the  benefits  of  regular  inspec- 
tion, and  of  unbiased  estimates  of  the  value  of  their  methods  and  products.  The  major 
energies  of  the  supervisory  staff,  including  the  city  superintendent,  associate  super- 
intendents, district  superintendents,  supervisors,  directors,  as  well  as  principals  and 
assistant  principals,  are  assumed  by  the  general  administrative  and  routine,  clerical 
duties.  Altogether  too  little  genuine  and  progressive  leadership  influences  the  work 
of  the  teachers  or  the  accomplishment  of  pupils.  This  general  situation  is,  in  large 
measure,  due  to  the  previously  mentioned  failure  to  distinguish  between  the  essential 
administrative,  supervisory  and  inspectorial  forms  of  control.  In  this  connection  the 
mere  business  of  external,  organization  and  operation  of  a  system  of  public  schools 
for  a  rapidly  expanding  city  of  a  diverse  population  of  five  millions  has  been,  it  must 
be  admitted,  a  disturbing  factor  of  no  small  influence. 

"The  schools  have  been  maintained  imder  a  form  of  control  that  is  distinctly 
administrative  and  mechanical ;  a  form  of  control  that  has  not  kept  a  single  eye  on 
the  real  substance  and  worth  of  teaching  and  education.  The  schools  have  not  been 
kept,  however,  under  the  influence  of  that  effective  supervision  and  inspection  which 
gives  unity,  purpose  and  high  standard  of  attainment  to  the  work  of  teachers.  There 
is  a  striking  lack  of  consciousness  within  the  school  system  of  the  radical  difference 
between  merely  keeping  the  schools  in  operation  and  keeping  the  schools  in  operation 
so  as  to  produce  tangible  results  of  high  quality.  The  organization  of  the  school  sys- 
tem has  been  from  the  top  down  rather  than  from  the  bottom  up ;  a  procedure  as 
obstructive  to  progress  and  real  growth  in  education  as  it  is  in  other  human  institu- 
tions." 

As  to  the  relation  of  teachers  to  the  administrative  heads  of  the 
system.  Professor  McMurry  says : 

"They  do  not  feel  free.  They  are  given  no  authoritative  voice  in  helping  to  select 
the  curriculum  that  they  must  present,  or  in  dividing  the  time  among  the  several 
studies,  or  in  choosing  the  text  books  that  they  use,  or  often,  even,  in  determining  the 
methods  that  they  follow.  On  every  hand  they  are  directed  what  to  do,  and  how  to 
do  it. 

"One  reason  for  these  many  limitations  is  the  fear,  on  the  part  of  the  higher 
authorities,  of  serious  blunders  by  weak  teachers.  But  the  effect  is  that  the  teacher^, 
as  a  body,  are  treated  as  weak  teachers,  and  distrusted.     ... 

"There  is  lamentable  lack  of  inspiring  leadership  by  those  persons  in  authority 
over  them,   i.  e.,   the  principals,   snecial    supervisors,   and   superintendents.     The   main 


FINAL   REPORT   OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  31 

relation  of  superintendents  to  them  is  that  of  inspectors  merely,  or  judges,  not  of 
helpers;  and  the  principals  are  too  busy  with  other  matters,  or  unable,  for  other 
reasons,  to  come  to  their  aid  in  a  vigorous,  constructive  manner.  In  consequence,  no 
one  in  the  system  is  discussing  aims  and  principles  with  them  and  showing  how  these 
should  aflfect  their  teaching. 

"This  is  the  expression  of  conviction  held  by  teachers.  There  are  many  excep- 
tions, partly  due  to  the  school,  and  partly  to  the  individual.  But  our  findings  convince 
us  that  such  exceptions  are  unusual.  Our  findings  further  convince  us  that  the  teachers 
as  a  rule,  are  conscientious  and  energetic ;  also,  that,  in  respect  to  their  profession, 
they  are  static  and  depressed." 

Commenting  upon  the  work  of  principals  as  supervisors,  Professor 
McMurry  says : 

"The  separate  lines  of  work,  called  studies,  that  are  pursued  in  each  grade,  are 
determined  by  the  Board  of  Superintendents.  Aside  from  one  slight  option  in  the 
eighth  grade,  the  principal  has  no  authority  in  this  matter." 

He  States  that  the  principals  lack  authority  "as  to  the  content  of  each 
branch  of  study,  as  to  the  amount  of  time  for  each  study,  as  to  the 
method  of  teaching,"  and,  further,  their  authority  is  diminished  because 
the  district  superintendents  and  special  supervisors  deal  directly  with  the 
teachers,  with  respect  to  many  vital  matters. 

As  has  been  stated  under  recommendation  four  above,  the  reorgan- 
ization and  standardization  of  the  work  of  each  school  will  leave  the 
principal  much  needed  free  time  for  supervision,  which  he  does  not  now 
possess,  and  he  may  then  become  the  real,  not  merely  the  nominal,  head 
of  his  school. 

Professor  Elliott  states  his  conclusions  concerning  the  supervisory 
position  and  function  of  the  district  superintendent,  as  follows: 

(a)  While  the  general  theory  of  the  plan  of  the  district  superin- 
tendent in  the  supervisory  organization  is  a  sound  one,  this  theory  is  not, 
as  to  its  essential  elements,  carried  out  in  practice. 

(b)  The  supervisory  districts  are  too  large  to  permit  the  district 
superintendents  properly  to  fulfill  their  responsibilities  as  supervisors. 
Many  of  these. should  be  transferred  to  the  principals  of  schools. 

(c)  The  existing  method  of  selecting  district  superintendents  too 
narrowly  confines  choice  to  those  whose  education,  training  and  experi- 
ence have  been  entirely  within  the  city. 

(d)  The  absence  of  a  definite  and  high  standard  of  qualification 
for  selection  and  retention  of  district  superintendents  has  limited  the 
supervisory  usefulness  of  these  officers. 

(e)  The  relation  between  the  Board  of  Superintendents  and  the 
district  superintendents  is  such  as  to  restrict  unnecessarily  the  freedom, 
initiative  and  responsibility  of  the  latter,  with  respect  to  matters  of  fun- 
damental educational  importance.  Provision  should  be  made  for  the 
larger  participation  of  the  district  superintendents  in  the  making  of  edu- 
cational policies. 


32  EDUCATIONAL   INVESTIGATION 

In  beginning  his  comment  upon  the  work  of  the  City  Superintendent 
and  the  Board  of  Superintendents,  Professor  ElHott  says: 

"It  is  pertinent  to  indicate  here  one  very  significant  aspect  of  the  whole  general 
problem  of  supervisory  control.  Obviously,  much  of  the  most  useful  information  and 
evidence  relating  to  the  methods  and  effectiveness  of  the  work  of  supervisory  officers 
of  a  complex  school  system  are  desirable  only  from  judicially  tempered  individuals 
within  the  system  itself.  We  have  been  brought  into  coi.tact  with  many  such  persons 
who,  as  teachers,  or  principals,  or  superintendents,  were  willing  to  bring  forward  un- 
biased and  substantiated  testimony  bearing  directly  upon  the  objects  of  the  investiga- 
tion. However,  except  in  the  case  of  a  few  negligible  and  minor  matters,  tliey  were 
expressly  unwilling  to  permit  themselves  to  appear  as  witnes-es  of  record.  The  ex- 
planation for  this  disinclination  invariably  given  was  that  the  expression  of  critical 
judgments  militated  seriously  against  their  professional  standing  and  advancement. 
This  attitude  of  those  within  the  schools,  indefensible  though  it  appears  to  be,  has 
been  so  marked  as  to  warrant  this  special  mention.  For  the  circumstance  reflects  a 
condition  of  affairs  wholly  detrimental  to  the  progressive  development  of  the  best 
interests  of  the  school." 

After  calhng  attention  to  the  preeminent  achievements  of  the  City 
Superintendent  of  Schools,  Professor  Elhott  continues : 

"Mechanical  consolidation,  with  the  resulting  standardization  of  aims  and  values 
has  been  effected.  The  next  epoch  of  educational  control  will  need  to  be  dominated 
by  the  idea  of  establishing  a  scheme  of  decentralized,  cooperative,  expert  supervision. 
Military  standards  of  authority  and  organization  cannot  be  permanently  adapted  to  the 
enterprise  of  education.  Education,  particularly  public  education,  is  a  great  coopera- 
tive undertaking,  and  therefore,  must  make  provision  for  the  initiative  independence 
and  creative  activity  of  every  individual  charged  with  responsibility.  The  adminis- 
trative efficiency  of  a  great,  complex  school  system  demands  a  high  degree  of  central- 
ization of  administrative  power.  On  the  other  hand,  the  supervisory  efficiency  of  the 
school  system  is  condition  by  a  degree  of  cooperation  which  has  not  yet  been  fully 
comprehended  by  the  City  Superintendent.  Machinery  stifles  individuality:  codper- 
ative  effort  expands  individuality.  The  teaching  of  children  and  the  direction  of  their 
education  are  dependent,  ultimately,  upon  freedom,  not  repression. 

"The  preeminent  difficulty  of  the  existing  situation  arises,  as  has  already  been 
pointed  out,  from  the  failure  clearly  to  distinguish  between  effective  administrative 
control  and  effective  supervisory  control.  In  so  far  as  the  City  Superintendent  is  an 
administrative  officer,  his  powers  should  be  broad  and  direct.  As  a  supervisory  officer, 
lie  should  be  the  executive  agent  of  the  supervisory  and  teaching  staff.  In  several 
respects  his  administrative  authority  should  be  enlarged.  This  is  especially  true  with 
regard  to  many  of  the  activities  now  under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Superintend- 
ents. The  scope  and  method  of  his  supervisory  functions  need  to  be  submitted  to 
thorough  study  and  investigation  far  more  thorough  than  is  possible -during  the  present 
inquiry.  Consequently,  it  has  been  recommended  that  the  Bureau  of  Investigation  and 
Appraisal,  as  proposed  in  this  report,  undertake  to  define  the  legitimate  functions  of 
the  City  Superintendent  as  a  supervisory  officer,  with  the  end  of  securing  to  the 
schools  the  benefits  of  the  great  amount  of  productive  power  which,  under  the  present 
organization,  must  be  latent.  The  proposed  plan  of  reorganization  of  the  supervisory 
staff  and  the  creation  of  the  Supervisory  Council  is  merely  suggestive  of  the  idea  of 
efficient,  cooperative  organization." 

Professor  ElHott  also  recommends  that  the  Board  of  Superintendents 
be  abolished.  He  maintains  that  great  confusion  and  duplication  of 
work  has  been  caused  by  the  lack  of  proper  division  of  functions,  and 
because  the  Board  of  Superintendents  has  endeavored  to  be  a  sort  of 
a  Board  of  Education,  as  well  as  a  board  of  educational  supervisors. 
Through  the  adoption  of  by-laws  divesting  itself  of  its  own  authority 
the  Board  of  Education  has  increased  this  confusion. 


FINAL    REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  33 

The  report  of  Professor  Frank  J.  Goodnovv  and  Dr.  Frederic  C. 
Howe,  on  "The  Organization,  Status  and  Procedure  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Education,"  confirms  the  recommendation  of  Professor  Elliott 
that  the  Board  of  Superintendents  be  abolished.  In  this  connection  it 
emphasizes  the  necessity  for  the  abolition  of  the  Board  of  Superin- 
tendents as  a  board,  and  further  recommends  that  the  associate  super- 
intendents be  retained  in  the  system  as  assistants  to  the  City  Superin- 
tendent. 

On  examination  of  the  facts  brought  out  in  Professor  Elliott's  re- 
port, and  in  the  report  of  Professor  Goodnow  and  Dr.  Howe,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  Board  of  Superintendents  should  be  either  abolished  or 
else  the  work  of  that  board  should  be  completely  reorganized. 

The  report  of  Mr.  William  A.  Averill,  dealing  with  the  office  work 
and  the  organization  of  the  files  of  the  City  Superintendent  and  the 
Board  of  Superintendents,  presented  to  your  Board  on  July  15,  1912, . 
the  report  of  Dr.  Goodnow  and  Dr.  Howe,  and  the  statements  of  mem- 
bers of  that  board  to  this  Committee,  at  hearings  conducted  by  it,  indi- 
cate that  Professor  Elliott  is  correct  in  stating  that  the  present  division 
of  work  burdens  the  associate  superintendents  with  a  mass  of  routine 
and  prevents  their  giving  attention  to  higher  educational  problems. 

Members  of  the  Board  of  Superintendents  have  stated  to  this  Com- 
mittee, in  the  course  of  hearings,  that  they  should  be  furnished  with 
confidential  examiners,  who  could  take  the  burden  of  routine  off  their 
hands,  and  that  the  ordinary  routine  work  could  be  carried  on  by  a 
good  male  clerk  and  a  well-organized  bureau  of  information.  As  re- 
gards the  character  of  this  routine,  Professor  Elliott's  conclusions  are : 

"While  it  may  be  argued  that  all  of  these  items  necessitate  action  by  the  Board 
of  Superintendents,  in  compliance  with  legal  requirements,  the  contention  that  the 
machinery  of  the  Board  of  Superintendents  is  unnecessary  to  secure  proper  adminis- 
trative control,  and  too  complicated  to  secure  prompt  and  well  considered  action  on 
matters  of  moment  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  schools  is  still  upheld.  The  usual 
order  of  procedure,  whereby  a  multitude  of  routine  matters  must  go  from  the  school 
to  the  district  superintendent,  from  the  district  superintendent  to  the  Board  of  Super- 
intendents, there  referred  to  one  of  its  committees  for  investigation  and  reported  back 
to  the  Board,  then  from  the  Board  of  Superintendents  to  the  Board  of  Education, 
there  referred  to  one  of  its  committees  for  consideration,  from  the  committee  to  the 
Board  of  Education,  thence  back  to  the  Board  of  Superintendents,  is  one  that  would 
not  be  tolerated  by  a  well  organized  industrial  or  commercial  establishment.  Indeed, 
such  establishments  could  not  be  maintained  under  such  a  policy  of  multiplex  checks 
and  balances.  The  public  educational  system  is  one  of  the  city's  largest  business 
undertakings.  There  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  brought  under  that  general 
regime  of  control  that  has  been  found  necessary  for  the  effective  control  and  econ- 
omical  direction  of  commercial  institutions." 

It  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  among  the  specialists  engaged  by 
your  Committee  that  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  the  teachers  and 
principals  be  given  a  direct  voice  in  the  administration  of  school  affairs, 
and  that  Professor  Elliott's  recommendations  for  the  creation  of  a 
supervisory  council,  having  a  definite  legal  status,  should  be  put  into 
immediate  operation.     President  Churchill  of  the  Board  of  Education 


34  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

has,  from  time  to  time,  given  expression  to  this  same  idea,  and  has  given 
a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  problem.  Whether  the  Board  of  Superin- 
tendents is  retained  or  not,  it  is  argued  that  the  same  need  for  the  council 
will  exist. 

The  conclusions  of  Professor  Hanus  and  the  specialists  working 
under  his  general  direction,  and  the  conclusions  of  Dr.  Goodnow  and 
Dr.  Howe  indicate  that,  if  the  proposed  Bureau  of  Investigation  and 
Appraisal  should  carry  on  continuous  inquiries,  along  the  lines  sug- 
gested under  conclusion  six,  the  basis  for  the  gradual  adjustment  of 
supervisory  control  to  the  needs  of  the  system  will  be  furnished.  Cer- 
tainly this  inquiry  has  made  it  perfectly  clear  that  satisfactory  super- 
visory work  cannot  be  properly  carried  on  unless  a  fact  basis  is  estab- 
lished for  administrative  action. 


CONCLUSION  NINE. 

The  Board  of  Education  should  carefully  supervise  the  operation  of  heating 
and  ventilating  systems  installed  in  the  different  public  school  buildings. 

The  investigations  carried  on  for  this  Committee  by  Mr.  Arm- 
strong, Professors  Baskerville  and  Winslow,  of  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  and  by  Doctor  Lucas  and  Mr.  Knox  have  given 
careful,  scientific  proof  that  public  school  ventilation  conditions  are 
very  good  in  five-sixths  and  bad  in  one-sixth  of  the  schoolrooms  in- 
vestigated, and  that  the  air  supplied  public  school  buildings  is  fre- 
quently too  hot. 

The  main  conclusions  in  the  Baskerville-Winslow  report  are  as 
follows : 

1.  "The  result  of  our  investigation  is  to  indicate  that  in  general  the  air  of  the 
New  York  school  rooms,  so  far  as  we  have  studied  them,  is  in  good  condition,  free 
from  excessive  dust  and  bacteria,  reasonably  low  in  carbon  dioxide,  cool  and  well 
regulated  as  to  temperature,  though  somewhat  dry.  It  must  be  clearly  understood 
that  these  statements  are  general  ones  and  subject  to  important  exceptions  to  which 
attention  will  be  directed  later. 

2.  "While  schools  as  a  whole  appear  to  be  satisfactory,  so  far  as  air  conditions 
are  concerned,  it  must  be  pointed  out  with  emphasis  that  there  are  a  number  of  excep- 
tions to  this  general  rule.  In  about  one-sixth  of  the  school  rooms  studied  we  found 
distinctly  bad  conditions,  so  far  as  temperature  and  carbon  dioxide  are  concerned.  In 
certain  schools,  as  strikingly  indicated  by  our  thermograph  charts,  extravagant  varia- 
tions of  temperatures  with  gross  overheating  are  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception, 
and  the  effect  upon  the  health  and  efficiency  of  the  children  must  be  a  serious  one.  So 
far  as  we  can  discover,  these  bad  conditions  are  not  due  primarily  to  faults  of  con- 
struction in  the  ventilating  systems,  but  to  careless  operation  on  the  part  of  the  janitors 
in  charge,  or  to  interference  with  the  janitors  by  teachers.  The  latter  condition  we 
have  good  reason  to  believe  has  caused  the  trouble  in  certain  cases.    These  bad  schools 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  35 

are  in  the  sharpest  contrast  with  the  good  results  obtained  by  conscientious  and  skilful 
and  unhampered  janitors  in  other  similar  buildings. 

3.  "In  view  of  the  fact  that  our  investigation  shows  that  certain  rooms  in  certain 
schools  are  receiving  an  inadequate  air  supply,  and  that  in  some  cases  the  temperature 
of  the  incoming  air  is  excessively  high,  we  belieye  it  would  be  of  advantage  to  have  an 
occasional  study  made  in  each  school  of  the  temperature  and  volume  of  the  air  at  the 
room  inlets.  We,  therefore,  recommend  that  provision  be  made  for  such  study  as  a 
part  of  the  duty  of  the  visiting  engineers,  such  as  were  recommended  to  supervise  the 
operation  of  heating  and  ventilating  plants  by  the  Special  Committee  on  Ventilation  of 
Public  School  Buildings  of  the  Board  of  Education  a  year  ago." 

Some  of  the  conclusions  of  the  experts  may  be  acted  upon  at  once. 
Other  conditions  require  further  investigation.  The  Committee  is  glad 
to  report  that  its  work  will  be  carried  forward  by  a  commission,  ap- 
pointed at  the  suggestion  of  the  Association  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor,  headed  by  Professor  Winslow,  using  funds  gener- 
ously supplied  by  Mrs..  A.  A.  Anderson,  of  this  city.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  Board  of  Education  will  cooperate  with  the  commission  in  the 
further  conduct  of  the  investigation. 


CONCLUSION  TEN. 

A  comprehensive  plan  should  be  worked  out  for  the  wider  use  of  school 
buildings  for  purposes  of  recreation  for  public  assemblage  and  for 
civic  and  social  gatherings. 

]\Ir.  Charles  G.  Armstrong  reports  that  the  school  buildings  of 
New  York  City  are  used  for  regular  educational  work  only  40  per  cent, 
of  their  available  working  hours.  The  after-school  use  of  school  build- 
ings is  now  administered  by  four  departments  or  bureaus  of  the  Board 
of  Education:  the  Department  of  Public  Lectures,  the  Department  of 
Evening  and  Trade  Schools,  the  Department  of  Recreation  Centers, 
Vacation  Schools,  Baths  and  Evening  Roof  Playgrounds,  and  the  De- 
partment of  Physical  Training.  While  these  four  departments,  in 
many  cases,  use  the  same  building  in  a  way  to  necessitate  the  employ- 
ment in  some  cases  of  three  or  four  after-school  principals  or  supervisors 
in  a  single  building,  the  use  of  these  buildings,  according  to  Mr.  Arm- 
strong, falls  very  far  short  of  being  intensive.  Whether  or  not  a  uni- 
fication, or,  at  least,  a  closer  coordination  among  the  departments  men- 
tioned above,  which  have  to  do  with  the  wider  use  of  the  school  plant, 
may  be  brought  about,  is  worthy  of  serious  consideration.  It  has 
already  been  suggested  that  some  plan  be  worked  out  whereby  neigh- 
borhood groups  and  volunteer  effort  generally  may  be  enabled  and  en- 
couraged to  contribute  to  the  wider  use  of  school  buildings. 


36  EDUCATIONAL   INVESTIGATION 

Your  Committee  has  received  suggestions  from  playground  spe- 
cialists and  recreation  authorities  that  the  elements  of  true  self-gov- 
ernment should  be  experimentally  tried  out  in  connection  with  the 
wider  use  of  the  school  plant.  If  it  be  true,  as  has  been  clainied  by 
them,  that  the  civic  center  method,  involving  local  self-government  and 
partial  self-support,  will  multiply  results,  with  a  reduction  of  overhead 
cost  and  of  local  supervision  cost,  it  is  evident  that  an  adjustment  of 
the  present  methods  should  be  made. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  cost  of  these  various  evening  and 
recreational  activities  for  the  year  1912  was  $1,370,294,  without,  how- 
ever, including  any  cost  of  the  Department  of  Physical  Training  for 
evening  work,  or  any  cost  for  central  office  control  or  supervision. 

Your  Committee  believes  that  an  administrative  economy  might 
be  effected  through  a  unifying  of  the  four  departments  concerned,  in 
such  a  way  as  to  concentrate  the  responsibility  of  the  central  office,  the 
general  supervisors  and  the  principals,  as  indicated  by  Dr.  Frederic  C. 
Howe,  in  a  supplementary  report  submitted  to  the  Committee  on 
School  Inquiry.  All  the  four  departments  enumerated  above  do  some 
recreation  work.  All  except  one — the  evening  schools — are  primarily 
recreational.  At  present,  according  to  Dr.  Howe,  there  appears  to  be 
no  community  of  method,  purpose  or  effort,  either  in  the  central  office, 
among  the  general  supervisors,  or  even  between  the  principals  of  many 
varied  activities  which  are  conducted  in  the  same  building.  He  points 
out  that  all  these  activities,  with  the  exception  of  evening  schools,  are 
essentially  neighborhood  and  social  activities.  They  cannot  be  effec- 
tively carried  on,  unless  they  are  kept  in  continuous  operation,  and 
unless  the  institutional  side  of  the  work  is  supplemented  by  neighbor- 
hood effort. 

Dr.  Howe  maintains  that  there  is  no  reason  for  the  present  marked 
division  between  recreational  and  educational  activities.  He  argues 
that  recreational  activities  must  become  more  and  more  educational  in 
character,  if  the  recreational  work  is  to  be  most  beneficial.  On  the 
other  hand,  as  indicated  in  the  other  reports  submitted  to  the  commit- 
tee, educational  work  must  center  around  human  problems  and  must 
be  related  to  neighborhood  needs.  If  this  plan  of  school  work  is  car- 
ried forward  the  line  of  demarcation  between  education  and  recreation 
will  evidently  be  obliterated. 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  37 

CONCLUSION  ELEVEN. 

The  different  administrative  departments  and  bureaus  of  the  Department 
of  Education  should  be  reorganized. 

A.    Secretary's  Office. 

It  is  recommended  that  the  organization  of  this  office  be  radically 
changed  so  as  to  relieve  it  of  the  purely  secretarial  work  now  per- 
formed for  the  several  committees.  This  contemplates  that  the  com- 
mittee clerks  who  make  up  the  largest  part  of  the  organization  of  this 
office  be  transferred  to  the  several  bureaus  over  which  the  respective 
committees  now  have  jurisdiction.  It  is,  however,  recommended  that 
within  this  office  there  be  organized  a  central  information  and  refer- 
ence bureau,  which  will  relieve  the  several  offices  of  the  Department 
of  handling  correspondence  of  a  general  or  informational  character. 
It  will  also  serve  as  a  reference  library,  in  which  reports  and  docu- 
ments of  educational  value  will  be  on  file,  and  made  available  for  the 
use  of  the  members  of  the  Board  and  the  staff,  who  are  always  too 
busy  to  learn  where  the  best  information  lies.  As  a  result  of  their  in- 
vestigation, Dr.  Goodnow  and  Dr.  Howe  conclude  that  formality, 
rather  than  business  expediency,  controls  the  policy  of.  this  office. 
They  point  out  that  imix)rtant  phases  of  this  work  are  grossly  neg- 
lected. For  example,  the  indexing  of  minutes  is  not  kept  up  currently 
for  reference.  Again,  they  criticise  the  office  of  the  secretary  for  ob- 
serving elaborate  and  wholly  uncalled  for  methods  in  the  handling  of 
correspondence. 

B.    Bureau  of  Audit  and  Accounts. 

The  Goodnow-Howe  report  both  praises  and  criticizes  the  work 
of  the  Auditor  of  the  Board  of  Education.  The  functional  organiza- 
tion and  procedure  of  the  office  and  the  use  of  modern  statistical 
methods  are  especially  commended. 

The  Auditor  is,  however,  criticized  for  not  developing  information 
as  to  "salary  accruals,"  requested  annually  by  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment.  The  investigators  prove  that  the  Auditor's  rec- 
ord and  methods,  bearing  on  this  highly  important  matter,  which  in- 
volves hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars,  are  inadequate,  inaccurate, 
and  fundamentally  misleading. 

They  also  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Auditor  has  failed  to 
maintain  a  control  over  the  detailed  accounts  of  the  Bureau  of  Sup- 
plies. In  this  connection  it  is  pointed  out  that  these  accounts  deal  with 
the  purchase  and  distribution  of  supplies  aggregating  $2,000,000  an- 
nually. 

"As  a  result  of  this  lack  of  control  and  audit,"  the  report  main- 
tains, "the  information  presented  in  the  Annual  Financial  and  Statisti- 


38  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

cal  Report,  as  to  the  consumption  of  supplies  by  activities,  is  not  accu- 
rate. Also  there  is  lack  of  agreement  between  the  Auditor's  state- 
ment, as  to  supply  consumption,  and  those  of  the  Superintendent  of 
School  Supplies.  The  latter,  as  pointed  out  in  another  part  of  this  re- 
port, are  more  or  less  unreliable  where  they  should  be  exact." 

The  Goodnow-Howe  report  recommends  that  the  accounting  sys- 
tem be  amended  and  extended  so  as  to  properly  develop  ( i )  salary 
accruals,  and  (2)  the  information  as  to  expenditures  for  a  given 
period  in  correlation  with  the  estimates  for  such  period.  The  same 
report  further  states  that  the  Auditor  should  at  once  assert  the  control 
prescribed  by  the  by-laws  over  the  detail  stock  accounts  of  the  Bureau 
of  Supplies,  and  effect  periodic  audits.  With  respect  to  the  relation 
of  this  ofifice  to  the  Comptroller,  Dr.  Goodnow  and  Dr.  Howe  conclude 
that  the  charter  vests  in  the  Comptroller  the  same  power  to  control 
the  system  of  statistical  records  of  the  Department  of  Education  as  he 
has  to  control  similar  records  and  accounts  of  the  other  city  depart- 
ments. Their  report  recommends  that  the  controlling  accounts  of  the 
Board  of  Education  be  brought  into  harmony  with  those  of  the  Comp- 
troller, and  that  the  Department  furnish  schedules  and  documents  re- 
quired for  the  purposes  of  auditing  and  accounting  control. 

C.    Bureau  of  Supplies. 

-  The  Goodnow-Howe  report  recommends  that  the  accounting  sys- 
tem in  the  Bureau  of  Supplies,  which  is  at  present  inadequate  and  in- 
correct, should  be  remedied  at  once.     To  quote  from  the  report : 

"There  is  urgent  need  for  a  more  systematic  accounting  for  supplies.  The  ac- 
counts of  this  Bureau  are  maintained  without  reference  to,  and  wholly  independent 
of,  the  general  accounts  of  the  Board  of  Education,  which  are  kept  in  the  Bureau  of 
Audit.  The  accounts  and  published  statements  of  the  Bureau  of  Supplies  are  not  in 
harmony  with  the  accounts  of  the  financial  reports  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and 
are  not  accurate.  The  accounting  system  of  the  Bureau  fails  to  provide  adequate  con- 
trol over  the  property  of  the  Board  w^hich  it  administers.  Based  upon  a  system  of 
single  entry  accounts,  the  procedure  of  the  office  does  not  insure  accuracy.  Errors  are 
admitted  in  practically  all  the  accounts.  Furthermore,  the  information  currently  devel- 
oped by  the  accounts  is  inadequate  and  insufficient  for  proper  administration,  and  for 
presentation  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment.  Salient  facts  which  should 
be  readily  available  and  which  have  been  requested  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment  for  budgetary  purposes  are  not  supplied  by  the  Bureau  of  School  Sup- 
plies. In  this  respect  the  organization  and  procedure  of  the  Bureau  are  fundamentally 
weak." 

The  report  recommends  that  the  accounting  system  of  the  Bureau 
of  Supplies  should  be  revised  without  delay,  and  that  such  revision 
should  contemplate  a  double  entry  accounting  system,  properly  syn- 
chronized with  the  accounts  of  the  Auditor  of  the  Board  and  con- 
trolled thereby.  Further,  it  advises  that  an  independent  inspection  of 
supplies  issued  be  instituted  at  the  depository,  and  also  emphasizes  the 
necessity  for  a  larger  central  supply  depository.  The  deficiencies  ex- 
isting in  the  Bureau  of  Supplies,  with  respect  to  its  accounting  meth- 


FINAL   REPORT   OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  39 

ods,  have  been  pointed  out.  To  correct  such  deficiencies,  the  Goodnow- 
Howe  report  presents  as  an  appendix  a  detailed  revised  system  of 
stock  accounting,  together  with  the  direct  and  related  procedure  to 
be  followed  in  the  keeping  of  such  accounts. 

D.    Bureau  of  Buildings. 

With  respect  to  the  Bureau  of  Buildings  the  Goodnow-Howe  re- 
port says : 

"The  internal  organization  of  the  Bureau  of  Buildings,  subject  to  certain  limita- 
tions imposed,  is  that  of  a  well  planned  administrative  unit.  The  Superintendent  of 
School  Buildings  has  given  much  thought  and  care  to  the  problems  of  his  office  with 
the  consequent  attainment  of  various  desirable  results.  .  .  .  Building  plans  and  details 
have  been  standardized  to  a  considerable  extent.  The  efficiency  of  the  Bureau,  how- 
ever, cannot  be  well  judged  owing  to  the  fact  that  records  tending  to  show  the  full 
operations  of  the  Bureau  in  relation  to  cost,  are  non-existent." 

The  cost  in  salaries  of  the  draughting  and  inspection  of  the  Bureau 
of  Buildings  approximates  $400,000  annually.  In  this  connection  the 
report  points  out  the  inadequacy  of  the  annual  report  of  the  Superin- 
tendent of  Buildings.  The  compilation  and  presentation  of  data, 
showing  the  distribution  of  its  cost  along  functional  lines,  is  not  shown 
in  the  report  of  the  bureau.  Such  data  are  absolutely  essential,  and 
constitute  the  basis  of  any  judgment  as  to  the  efficiency  of  the  bureau's 
administration. 

The  report  of  Charles  G.  Armstrong  states  that  the  method  of 
ascertaining  and  making  needed  repairs  could  be  greatly  improved. 
The  organization  of  the  bureau  is  fundamentally  wrong,  in  that  engi- 
neering work  is  consolidated  with  architectural  work.  Good  adminis- 
tration will  be  promoted  if  the  work  is  divided.  Conclusion  eleven 
contemplates  the  transfer  of  those  functions  of  an  engineering  nature, 
now  under  the  control  of  the  Superintendent  of  Buildings,  to  an  engi- 
neering Superintendent  of  School  Buildings. 

The  functions  of  this  engineering  bureau,  as  pointed  out  in  the 
Armstrong  report  on  "The  Condition  and  Efficiency  of  Public  School 
Buildings,"  and  in  the  Goodnow-Howe  report,  should  be  the  installa- 
tion, maintenance,  repair  and  operation  of  heating  and  ventilating 
plants  in  school  buildings. 

The  foregoing  recommendation  contemplates  that  the  proposed  Bu- 
reau'of.  School  Engineering  should  have  full  charge  of  all  janitors  and 
other  employees  engaged  in  the  care  and  cleaning  of  buildings. 

It  is  also  recommended  in  the  Goodnow-Howe  report  that  the  Su- 
perintendent of  School  Buildings  properly  extend  the  time  cost  ac- 
counting system,  now  partially  installed  by  his  bureau,  and  should  also 
change  the  present  method  of  purchasing  furniture. 

In  order  to  test  the  efficiency  of  and  the  necessity  for  117  inspec- 
tors attached  to  the  Bureau  of  Buildings  the  report  suggests  that  a 


40  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

uniform  time  and  cost  system  be  installed,  which  will  show  at  least  the 
following : 

(a)  Cost  of  new  construction  inspection  (payable  out  of  corporate  stock)  under 
classification  of  the  inspector. 

(b)  Cost  of  repair  inspection  involved  by  repairs  under  execution,  specifically  pro- 
posed, and  certification  of  repairs  executed.     Cost  for  each  should  be  shown  separately. 

(c)  Cost  of  general  inspection  as  to  safety  and  need  of  repairs  under  classification 
of  the  inspector.  Also  the  number  and  kind  of  any  defects  discovered  aflFecting  per- 
sonal safety. 

After  the  above  data  have  been  collected,  during  a  period  of  at 
least  three  or  four  months,  the  Goodnow-Howe  report  suggests  that 
a  special  committee  of  the  Board,  or  a  Committee  on  Economy  and 
Efficiency,  should  examine  the  inspection  slips  and  time-cost  records 
used  by  the  reorganized  bureau,  and  should  compare  reports  which 
will  be  rendered  by  the  janitorial  force  with  reports  rendered  by  the 
inspection  force,  so  that  the  actual  value  of  general  inspection  work 
may  be  determined.  Such  information  will  furnish,  according  to  the 
report,  the  proper  supporting  data  for  the  budgetary  estimate  as  to  the 
size  and  cost  of  the  inspection  force. 

E.     Office  of  the  Supervisor  of  Janitors. 

The  organization  of  the  Department  of  Education,  with  respect  to 
its  system  of  supervision  of  the  janitorial  force,  is  considered  defec- 
tive. Such  criticism  is  summarized  by  the  investigators  in  the  fol- 
lowing statement : 

"There  is  a  lack  of  functional  coordination  in  the  existence  of  three  separate  and 
■distinct  administrative  unit's,  each  of  which  independently  functions  with  respect  to 
closely  related  and  interdependent  classes  of  work  concerned  with  the  heating  and 
ventilating  of  the  schools.  The  Committee  on  Care  of  Buildings  (acting  through  the 
office  of  the  Supervisor  of  Janitors),  although  charged  with  the  supervision  of  the 
janitorial  force,  exercises  no  supervision  over  the  usage  of  fuel  and  janitorial  supplies 
by  the  janitors.  The  Committee  on  Supplies  (acting  through  the  Bureau  of  Supplies) 
exercises  this  function  without  reference  to  the  former,  and  furthermore  supervises 
or  attempts  to  supervise  the  janitors  in  the  operation  of  their  respective  heating  and 
ventilating  plants  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  fuel  efficiency  engineer  recently 
attached  to  the  Bureau  of  Supplies.  The  Committee  on  Buildings  (acting  through 
the  Bureau  of  Buildings)  installs  and  repairs  the  heating  and  ventilating  plants 
throughout  the  system,  but  has  no  authority  or  control  over  their  operation." 

Thus,  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  technical  supervision  and  control 
of  the  janitorial  force  is  inadequate  and  ineffective.  In  such  funda- 
mentally important  matters  as  the  consumption  of  coal,  oil,  and  other 
supplies,  the  condition  of  furnaces,  etc.,  no  records  are  kept  in  the 
■central  office  that  would  enable  the  supervisor  or  his  assistants  to 
reach  a  conclusion  as  to  the  economical  operation  of  any  heating  and 
ventilating  plant  in  the  system. 

The  urgent  need  for  scientific  records  as  to  the  operation  of  the 
heating  and  ventilating  plants,  and  the  necessity  for  the  enlargement 
of  the  inspectorial  force  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Supervisor  of 


FINAL    REPORT   OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  41 

Janitors,  have  been  stated  in  detail  in  the  report  of  Charles  G.  Arm- 
strong, upon  ''The  Condition  and  Efficiency  of  Public  School  Build- 
ings," and  in  the  joint  report  of  this  Committee  and  the  Committee 
on  Janitorial  Compensation,  submitted  to  your  Board  on  March  25, 
1913- 


CONCLUSION  TWELVE. 

The  accounting  system  of  the  Board  of  Education  should  be  so  adjusted  as 
to  make  possible  the  fullest  segregation  of  disbursement  accoimts  along 
ftmctionaJ  lines  properly  correlated  with  allied  statistics  and  their 
pubUcation  at  least  quarterly. 

The  report  of  Dr.  Goodnow  and  Dr.  Howe  states  as  a  final  con- 
clusion that  the  revised  Greater  New  York  Charter  of  1901  gives  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  power  to  segregate  items  of  the 
general  fund  appropriation  for  high  schools  and  training  schools  for 
teachers  and  items  of  the  special  fund  appropriation  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  school  children  at  special  rates,  and  for  the  administrative 
officers  of  the  Board  and  their  subordinates. 

The  right  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  to  subdi- 
vide the  total  authorization  of  corporate  stock  for  school  sites  and 
buildings  has  been  recognized  in  a  decision  of  the  Appellate  Division 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the  case  of  T.  S.  Clark  Co.  vs.  Board  of 
Education  of  the  City  of  New  York,  rendered  in  May,  191 3. 

The  Court  held : 

"That  the  attempt  to  justify  the  cause  of  action  upon  the  ground  of  the  absolute 
control  of  its  fund  by  the  Board  of  Education  must  fail.  The  amount  expended  for 
purchase  of  land  and  creation  of  schools  does  not  come  out  of  the  general  fund  which 
is  appropriated  to  the  payment  of  teachers,  appears  in  the  budget  and  is  raised  by 
taxation,  not  strictly  speaking,  out  of  the  special  fund,  but  from  the  issuance  of  cor- 
porate stock  which  is  provided  for  by  specific  provisions  of  the  charter.  It  has  already 
teen  determined  that  while  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  and  the  Board 
of  Aldermen  have  no  control  over  the  salaries  of  the  teaching  staff,  that  said  boards 
have  the  power  to  fix  the  salaries  of  all  other  civilian  employees  of  the  Board  of 
Education.  (Hogan  v.  The  Board  of  Education,  200  N.  Y.  370.)  The  creation  of 
the  funded  debt  is  governed  by  the  provisions  alluded  to  for  the  issuance  of  corporate 
stock,  and  is  entirely  under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  up  to  $3,500,000,  and 
of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  the  Board  of  Aldermen  for  sums  in  excess  thereof. 
Discretion  is  therefore  invested  in  such  bodies.  It  is  an  unsound  contention,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  that  if  there  is  such  discretion  which  may  be  exercised  by  the  total 
denial  of  the  request  of  the  Board  of  Education,  there  is  not  included  as  a  necessary 
part  thereof  discretion  as  to  the  purposes  and  objects  for  which  such  stock  shall  be 
issued.  Said  boards  represent  the  whole  city  and  all  its  interests.  If  the  whole  city 
is  to  be  bonded  said  boards  must  certainly  have  the  power  to  limit  the  various  pur- 
poses for  which  said  bonds,  or,  as  now  called,  corporate  stock,  are  to  be  issued.  The 
Board  of   Education,   to  obtain  the   appropriation,  conformed  to  the  request  of   the 


42  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

Board  of  Estimate  and  made  a  specific  request  for  specific  purposes.  Those  specific 
requests  were  granted.  'Jhe  Board  of  Education  is  bound  thereby.  Non  constat  they 
would  have  been  granted  and  the  corporate  stock  authorized  otherwise.  The  Board 
of  Education  which  has  no  control,  other  than  by  initiation,  of  the  creation  of  this 
funded  debt  must  respect  the  limitations  put  thereon  by  the  boards  vested  with  power 
and  discretion." 

Relative  to  the  foregoing  decision,  that  the  discretion  in  the  Board 
of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  which  may  be  exercised  by  a  total 
denial  of  funds,  carries  as  a  necessary  incident  a  discretion  to  define 
the  purposes  for  which  the  funds  shall  be  allowed.  Dr.  Goodnow  and 
Dr.  Howe  maintain  that  ''such  an  argument  would  apply  with  equal 
force  to  that  part  of  the  general  fund  in  excess  of  the  three  mills  ap- 
propriation and  to  the  s^jecial  fund  included  in  the  annual  budget/'  but 
they  point  out  that  this  latter  assumption  is  "incompatible  with  the  grant 
of  independent  educational  policy-making  power  which  the  charter,  as 
previously  recited,  has  in  rather  conflicting  and  indefinite  language  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  not  in  the  hands  of  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment." 

The  investigators  point  out  that  the  Greater  New  York  Charter 
gives  the  Comptroller  power,  in  Section  149-a  and  related  sections,  to 
accomplish  directly  any  segregation  of  disbursements  required  by  the 
City.  The  difference  between  a  segregation  before  expenditure  and 
after  expenditure  would,  of  course,  be  mostly  formal,  if  the  Board  of 
Education  complied  with  the  Comptroller's  requests  pursuant  to  the 
provisions  of  the  Charter. 

The  Goodnow-Howe  report  agrees  with  the  conclusions  approved 
by  the  Committee  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  investigated 
the  City's  accounting-  system,  so  far  as  these  conclusions  indicate  that 
the  City's  accounting  system  and  the  segregated  budget  have  greatly 
improved  conditions  existing  in  the  City  prior  to  their  adoption. 

It  is  pointed  out,  however,  by  Dr.  Goodnow  and  Dr.  Howe,  that 
minute  segregation  will  not  be  necessary  if  the  Board  of  Education 
will  furnish  adequate  estimates  supported  by  adequate  segregated  state- 
ments of  disbursements  which  the  Comptroller  has  power  to  require 
from  the  Board  of  Education,  as  provided  for  in  the  Charter. 

Hitherto  the  estimates  presented  by  the  Board  of  Education  to  the 
Board  of  Estimate,  according  to.  the  report  have  been  defective  and 
inadequate.  It  states  that  no  Comptroller  has  exercised  his  full  powers 
under  the  above  sections,  which  enable  him  to  establish  definite  sched- 
ules and  blank  forms  upon  the  basis  of  which  the  Board  of  Education 
shall  keep  its  accounts  and  make  reports.  It  is  the  conclusion  of  the 
investigators  that  the  establishment  of  disbursement  accounting  by  the 
Board  of  Education,  under  agreement  with  the  Comptroller,  will  end 
differences  between  the  two  boards,  and  will  obviate  the  unnecessary 
formality  and  red  tape  incident  to  the  administration  of  a  budget  segre- 
gated in  advance  of  expenditures. 

Board    of   Estimate   experiences   indicate   that   no   department   has 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  43 

heretofore  adopted  the  system  of  segregated  and  correlated  accounts 
which  has  been  commended  by  the  Comptroller,  except  as  they  have 
been  required  to  do  so  in  order  to  administer  the  segregated  budget. 

The  Board  of  Education  has  practically  refused  to  adopt  the  City's 
accounting  system.^  In  the  light  of  the  conclusions  embodied  in  the 
Goodnow-Howe  report,  the  Committee  believes  that  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate should  ask  the  Department  of  Education  to  adopt  this  system  at 
once,  and,  if  it  again  refuses,  the  Committee  recommends  that  the 
Charter  should  be  amended  so  as  to  restore  to  the  Board  of  Estimate 
the  power  it  had  until  the  charter  revision  of  1901  to  segregate  all 
budget  appropriations  of  the  Department  of  Education. 

Current  reports  of  expenditures,  properly  segregated  and  corre- 
lated with  other  data,  should  be  published  quarterly,  to  serve  as  a  basis 
of  administration  and  information  for  the  Board  of  Education.  The 
present  system  leaves  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Education  and 
the  people  too  much  in  the  dark  as  to  the  cost  and  efficiency  of  the 
work  of  the  schools.  As  regards  the  right  of  the  Board  of  Estimate 
to  ask  for  definite  evidence  justifying  budget  requests,  Dr.  Bachman, 
in  his  report  upon  "Estimating  for  Budget  Purposes  the  Number  of 
Teachers  Needed  in  the  Elementary  Schools,"  says : 

"First,  it  is  incumbent  on  the  Board  of  Education  so  to  present  the  facts  to  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  on  the  needs  of  the  schools  that  if  funds  are 
allowed  for  a  single  teacher  less  than  the  number  requested,  just  so  much  care  and 
attention  is  denied  a  given  group  of  children.  Second,  it  is  incumbent  on  the  Board 
of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  in  view  of  other  municipal  activities  and  of  the  in- 
terests of  the  taxpayer,  to  refuse  to  vote  public  money  on  sentimental  grounds;  hence 
it  is  incumbent  on  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  to  refuse  to  vote  money 
for  the  day  elementary  schools  until  the  Board  of  Education  presents  facts  sufficient 
to  demonstrate  clearly  what  the  needs  of  these  schools  are.  Such  facts  have  not  been 
presented  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  in  the  past. 

"In  preparing  the  budget  estimate  for  191 1  the  estimated  register  for  which  pro- 
visions, were  requested  was  based  on  an  increase  in  register  of  December  over  the 
preceding  May  for  1902- 1909  inclusive.  When  the  needs  of  the  school  were  thus 
estimated,  reque.sts  were  made  to  care  for  an  increase  in  register  for  the  Fall  term 
of  1910  of  28,000.  The  actual  average  annual  increase  in  the  register  of  December 
over  December  for  the  years  1902-1909  inclusive,  was  21,707.  It  is,  therefore,  obvious 
that  the  estimated  increase  in  register  of  28.000,  for  which  budget  provisions  were 
requested,  would  have  provided  for  at  least  6,000  more  pupils  than  there  was  reason 
to  expect  there  would  be  in  the  schools  in  December.  It  became  clear  at  the  hearings 
before  the  Budget  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  in  October, 
1910,  that  this  method  of  estimating  the  increase  in  register  gave  an  inflated  estimate 
of  the  needs  of  the  day  elementary  schools  and,  as  a  result,  this  method  has  not  been 
used  since." 

Radical  changes  must  be  made  in  the  form  and  content  of  the  an- 
nual budget  estimate  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  a  great  deal  more 
attention  should  be  given  to  it  than  the  Goodnow-Howe  report  shows  the 
Board  of  Education  has  given  heretofore.  This  report  points  out  the 
following  inadequacies  in  the  Budget  Estimates  of  the  General  and  Spe- 
cial School  Funds  submitted  by  the  Board  of  Education. 

'  See  Goodnow-Howe  Report,  Part  I,  Chapter  3,  pp. 


44  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

A.  General  Fund  Estimates: 

(i)  "The  probable  amount  of  salary  accruals  is  not  shown  in  proper  form  nor 
is  it  based  on  adequate  data. 

(2)  "The  items  of  the  estimates  are  not  comparable  with  the  experience  of  the 
department  in  previous  years. 

(3)  "The  estimates  of  the  growth  of  the  system  on  account  of  the  probable 
increased  registration  is  not  conclusive  in  relation  to  cost. 

B.  Special  Fund  Estimates : 

(i)  "Schedules  Nos.  i  and  2  for  'general  supplies'  and  fuel  respectively  are  not 
based  upon  an  adequate  knowledge  of  past  experience  or  of  stock  on  hand. 

(2)  "Schedule  No.  12  for  'repairs  and  replacements'  is  not  supported  by  suffi- 
cient detail  evidence." 

In  conclusion  the  report  states : 

"The  Board  of  Education  has  not,  in  the  case  either  of  the  estimates  for  the  Gen- 
eral School  Fund  or  in  those  for  the  Special  School  Fund,  always  furnished  the  data 
which  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  deems  it  necessary  that  it  shall  have, 
in  order  that  it  may  reach  an  independent  judgment  as  to  the  amounts  of  money  it 
has  under  the  law  discretion  in  granting  or  refusing  to  grant  to  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation. 

"Indeed,  the  inability  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  to  secure  from 
the  Board  of  Education  the  information  which  the  former  felt  to  be  imperatively 
necessary  in  order  that  it  might  act  intelligently  in  the  consideration  of  the  school 
budget,  has  been  the  main  cause  of  the  inauguration  of  the  present  school  inquiry. 
So  long  as  the  law  imposes  upon  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  as  it 
does  at  present,  the  responsibility  for  determining  what  amounts  of  money  shall  be 
granted  to  the  General  School  Fund  in  excess  of  the  three  mills  and  to  the  Special 
Fund,  that  Board  is  in  duty  bound  to  satisfy  itself  to  the  best  of  its  ability  as  to  the 
propriety  and  expediency  of  the  estimates  sent  up  to  it  by  the  Board  of  Education. 
The  Board  of  Education  is,  on  the  other  hand,  disregarding  the  law  if  it  refuses  on 
demand  to  comply  with  the  requests  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  for 
information.  It  is  not  only  disregarding  the  law,  but  is  also  unnecessarily  hampering 
the  operation  of  the  city  government.  The  estimates  which  it  sends  up,  consisting  as 
they  do  in  so  many  cases,  of  mere  statements  unsupported  by  data  upon  which  an 
independent  judgment  can  be  based,  have  to  be  recast  in  the  Comptroller's  office 
before  they  are  formally  acted  upon. 

"Even  if  it  be  admitted  either  as  a  matter  of  law  or  from  the  viewpoint  of  ex- 
pediency, that  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  should  not  segregate  all  the 
items  of  appropriation  in  the  Special  School  Fund  nor  recommend  an  apportionment 
of  the  General  School  Fund,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that 
the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  be  furnished  with  comprehensive  and  intel- 
ligible data  with  regard  to  the  details  of  the  service  for  which  estimates  are  presented. 

"The  non-compliance  of  the  Board  of  Education  with  the  requests  of  the  Board 
of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  for  information  relative  to  the  estimates  for  both  the 
General  School  Fund  and  the  Special  School  Fund  appears  to  us  to  be  due  mainly  to 
the  fact  that  the  accounts  and  records  of  the  Board  of  Education  have  not  been  kept 
in  such  a  manner  as  currently  to  develop  the  information  desired  as  a  proper  basis 
for  estimating  the  needs  of  the  schools.     Our  suggestion  is, — 

"ist.  That  the  Comptroller  exercise  his  powers  under  section  149-a  of  the  Char- 
ter, by  requiring  the  Board  of  Education  to  set  up  and  keep  such  accounts  and  statis- 
tical records  as  will  develop  the  information  desired  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment ;    and 

"2nd.  That  in  case  it  is  ascertained  that  the  present  organization  of  the  Board  of 
Education  is  not  adequate  to  the  task  imposed  upon  it  by  such  orders,  provision  be 
made  by  the  Board  of  Education  in  its  estimates  and  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment  in  the  budget  for  such  an  organization." 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  45 

CONCLUSION  THIRTEEN. 

The  Board  of  Education  should  provide  for  the  collection  and  tabulation  of 
all  current  data  needed  in  order  to  enable  it  to  know  in  advance  what 
additional  seating  capacity  is  actually  required  throughout  the  city. 

The  Board  of  Education  has  not,  up  to  a  year  ago,  had  proper  or 
sufficient  evidence  at  its  disposal  when  considering  the  needs  of  the 
city  and  the  expansion  of  the  system,  as  has  been  pointed  out  in  re- 
ports to  this  Board  and  in  reports  of  the  Vacant  Lands  Committee  to- 
the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund.  Despite  the  fact  that  $51,222,- 
745  was  expended  on  sites  and  buildings  between  1904  and  the  end  of 
1909,  and  that  there  were,  according  to  the  report  of  the  City  Superin- 
tendent, 40,000  more  seats  in  school  buildings  than  there  were  children 
to  use  them,  in  1910  there  were  54,000  children  on  part-time.  This 
was  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Board  of  Education  had  never 
had  at  its  disposal  information  demonstrating  that  the  new  buildings 
secured  through  the  expenditure  of  $51,222,745  would  provide  seats 
where  the  children  could  use  them. 

There  are  now  over  80,000  children  on  part-time.  The  existence 
of  this  condition  has  led  to  much  discussion.  Representatives  of  the 
Board  of  Education  have  blamed  it  all  uix)n  the  city  government, 
asserting  that  it  is  all  due  to  the  lack  of  funds  and  to  city  government 
interference  with  the  work  of  the  Board  of  Education.  The  represen- 
tatives of  the  city  government  have  often  asserted  that  the  above 
statements  were  made  for  political  effect.  Your  Committee  has  felt 
that  no  public  interest  had  been  promoted,  or  could  be  promoted,  by 
the  passing  of  criticism  where  there  was  so  little  evidence  at  hand 
showing  where  the  blame  should  be  placed.  Accordingly,  the  Commit- 
tee directed  Messrs.  Charles  G.  and  Francis  J.  Armstrong,  consulting 
engineers,  to  make  an  exhaustive  investigation  into  the  whole  subject, 
and  to  report  back  how  the  future  needs  of  the  schools  could  be  known 
in  advance,  and  delays  in  securing  appropriations,  in  drawing  plans 
and  in  construction  avoided. 

The  report  submitted  by  the  consulting  engineers  will  be  found  in 
Volume  III  of  this  report.  It  shows  that  the  delays  are  due  for  the 
most  part  to  the  failure  of  the  Board  of  Education  to  secure  proper 
evidence  of  needs,  to  draw  all  plans  as  a  unit,  to  advertise  all  specifica- 
tions for  a  building  at  the  same  time.  They  are  also  due  to  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  diflferent  City  departments  to  pass  de  novo  upon  the  plans 
submitted  by  the  Board  of  Education. 

These  investigators  recommend : 

"i.     The  selection  of  sites  by  scientific  means. 

"2.  The  elimination  of  'useless  formalities'  by  the  establishment  of  an  'Efficiency 
Bureau.' 

"3.  Foresight  on  the  part  of  the  Board  of  Education  in  designing  and  submitting 
for  approval  all  plans  of  any  one  school  at  one  time. 


46  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

"4.    The  adoption  of  Standard  Schools. 

"5.  Eliminating  duplication  of  approval  upon  the  same  subjects  by  restricting 
each  department  to  its  charter  duties. 

"6.  The  provision  for  efficient  engineering  within  the  designing  department  of 
the  Board  of  Education. 

"7.  The  elimination  of  the  'lowest  bidder'  problem  by  the  establishment  of  the 
'Board  of  Censorship  for  CoiyRACTORs'  and 

"8.     The  efficient  use  of  the  present  equipment." 

The  foregoing  recommendations  may  be  adopted  without  increased 
expenditure,  and  will  effect  momentous  saving  in  time  and  city 
finances,  according  to  the  engineers. 


CONCLUSION  FOURTEEN. 

The  Permanent  Census  Board  should  be  utilized  by  the  Board  of  Education 
and  should  eventually  be  transferred  to  the  Board  of  Education. 

As  pointed  out  in  the  preliminary  reports  of  this  Committee,  filed 
with  the  Board  of  Estimate  on  July  15,  1912,  the  Board  of  Education 
has  not  made  sufficient  use  of  evidence  collected  by  the  Permanent 
Census  Board.  This  Census  Board  was  created  to  collect  information 
necessary  to  proper  enforcement  of  the  compulsory  education  law.  As 
the  enforcement  of  this  law  is  one  of  the  duties  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, there  is  every  reason  why  the  Census  Board  should  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  Board  of  Education.  This  will  make  the  data  now  col- 
lected and  that  which  should  be  collected  by  the  Census  Board  avail- 
able for  the  use  of  the  Board  of  Education  in  making  estimates  of  new 
buildings,  of  supplies  and  teachers  required. 


CONCLUSION  FIFTEEN. 

The  Board  of  Education  should  be  reorganized  and  its  membership  reduced 
from  forty-six  to  eight  with  sixteen  votes  as  now  distributed  in  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment. 

The  Goodnow  and  Howe  report  recommends  that: 

A.  "The  Board  of  Education  should  be  reduced  in  size  to  eight  members,  mod- 
elled on  the  present  organization  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment ;  that 
three  of  the  members  should  represent  the  city  at  large,  to  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor, 
and  five  should  be  appointed  by  the  Presidents  of  the  Boroughs  to  represent  the  indi- 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  47 

vidual  boroughs  respectively;  that  to  each  of  the  members  representing  the  city  at 
large  there  be  given  three  votes;  that  to  each  of  the  members  representing  the  bor- 
oughs of  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn  there  be  given  two  votes;  while  to  each  of  the 
members  representing  the  other  boroughs  th»re  be  given  one  vote.  We  recommend 
that  the  terms  of  all  the  members  be  four  years,  so  arranged  that  one-fourth  of  the 
members  shall  retire  every  year  and  that  the  entire  membership  be  renewed  every 
four  years. 

■'As  a  possible  alternative  to  the  above  organization  all  of  the  members  of  the 
Board  of  Education  might  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor,  with  proper  distribution  to 
boroughs  and  with  voting  power  and  length  of  term  assigned  as  suggested  in  the 
preceding  paragraph. 

"Under  the  first  proposal  the  Board  of  Education  would  more  closely  represent 
the  opinions  and  needs  of  the  various  boroughs  composing  the  city.  Under  the  latter 
plan  of  appointment  by  the  Mayor,  responsibility  would  be  more  definitely  localized 
than  in  the  first  proposal.  The  Mayor  would  become  the  fountainhead  of  education 
in  the  city,  as  he  is  at  present,  and  could  be  held  more  easily  responsible  for  the 
character  and  personnel  of  the  Board  of  Education  than  if  certain  members  were 
appointed  by  the  Mayor  and  others  were  appointed  by  the  Presidents  of  the  different 
Boroughs.  The  latter  plan  would  greatly  increase  the  power  of  the  Mayor.  It  would 
also  center  responsibility,  as  is  now  provided  in  the  Charter  for  the  executive  heads 
of  the  other  departments  of  the  city. 

"Either  plan  involves  greater  simplicity,  increased  responsiveness  and  responsi- 
bility on  the  part  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

"In  addition  to  the  above  organization  we  believe  that  the  Board  of  Education 
should  be  given  greater  freedom  of  action  by  the  Legislature  and  should  be  hampered 
as  little  as  possible  in  its  internal  organization  by  state  laws.  In  addition  its  relation 
and  financial  responsibility  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  should  be 
more  clearly   defined." 

Relating  to  the  present  organization  and  its  weaknesses,  Dr.  Good- 
now  and  Dr.  Howe  say: 

"The  Board  of  Education  consists  of  forty-six  members,  selected  from  the  five 
boroughs  and  appointed  by  the  Mayor  for  a  term  of  five  years,  the  terms  of  appoint- 
ment overlapping  in  such  a  way  that  the  Board  is  only  partially  renewed  each  year. 

"The  school  Charter  provides  for  an  executive  committee  of  fifteen  members,  with 
the  president  of  the  Board  of  Education  as  its  chairman  ex  officio.  The  executive 
committee,  however,  has  never  assumed  the  functions  expected  of  it  by  the  Legis- 
lature. Under  the  by-laws  of  the  Board  fourteen  separate  standing  committees  are 
provided,  of  from  five  to  nine  members  each.  The  superintendent  of  schools  and  thd 
departmental  heads  of  accounts,  supplies,  school  buildings,  and  janitors  are  chosen 
by  the  Board,  but  are  directly  responsible  to  the  committee  having  charge  of  these 
departments.  The  first  four  mentioned  are  statutory  officials.  This,  in  brief,  is  the 
skeleton  organization  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

"Evils  inhere,  and  inevitably  inhere,  in  such  a  system  of  administration. 

"The  Board  of  Education  is  too  large  and  too  unwieldy  a  body.  On  this  point 
all  authorities  seem  agreed.     As  a  result  of  its  size  and  its  internal  organization, — 

"(i)  The  Board  fails  to  awaken  a  proper  sense  of  individual  responsibility  on  the 
part  of  its  members. 

"(2)  Authority  is  so  widely  distributed  between  the  Board,  its  committees  and 
bureau  heads  that  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  locate  responsibility. 

"(3)  The  size  of  the  Board  reduced  its  attractiveness  to  men  sincerely  desirous 
of  public  service,  but  deterred  from  accepting  membership  on  the  Board  because  of 
the  lack  of  opportunity  for  efficient  work. 

"(4)  The  Board  is  not  responsive  to  the  public  or  to  the  elected  officials  who 
are  finally  responsible  to  the  public  for  school  administration. 

"(5)  There  is  inevitable  conflict  of  jurisdiction  between  the  different  committees; 
there  is  a  necessary  overlapping  of  authority.  A  diplomatic  courtesy  has  come  to 
prevail  under  which  each  committee  defers  to  the  action  of  other  committees.  This 
has  resulted  in  the  creation  of  miniature  boards  of  education  within  the  Board  of 
Education,  which  in  administrative  matters  are  almost  autonomous. 


48  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

"(6)  There  is  great  waste  of  energy  and  ability.  There  is  considerable  waste  in 
money  for  printing,  for  clerical  assistance,  etc. 

"(7)  Men  of  ability  can  make  their  influence  felt  only  by  indirection,  by  confer- 
ences, by  circumlocution.  The  work  of  the  Board  itself  becomes  routine,  petty  and 
detailed  rather  than  policy-making  and  legislative. 

"(8)  Most  important  of  all,  the  size  of  the  Board  seems  to  have  utterly  defeated 
the  main  argument  for  its  size.  Members  are  not  familiar  with  the  whole  school 
problem ;  they  are  familiar  with  a  fraction  of  the  problem.  Neither  the  Board  nor 
any  committee  of  the  Board  is  equipped  to  think  or  act  as  does  the  individual  director 
of  a  city  department;  as  does  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  on  city 
problems.  Committee  policies  have  been  substituted  for  a  comprehensive  school  policy. 
Aside  from  the  instinct  of  men  to  amplify  their  departments  and  authority,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  have  no  means  of  becoming  familiar  with  the  school  problem  or 
with  the  schools  as  a  whole.  The  size  of  the  Board  makes  this  impossible.  ITie  com- 
mittee system  accentuates  the  evil.  The  time  of  both  the  Board  and  its  committees  is 
absorbed  with  petty  routine  and  administrative  detail  to  the  neglect  of  any  large 
visioned  policies  of  school  development.  A  voluntary  school  board  as  large  as  the 
Board  of  Education,  meeting  twice  a  month  in  short  sessions  cannot,  under  the  system 
which  obtains,  think  or  act  as  a  policy-making,  education  forming  agency.  That  is  out 
of  the  question.  The  only  reason  which  justifies  a  Board  rather  than  a  single  admin- 
istrative officer  is  destroyed  by  the  very  size  of  that  Board.  And  that  cannot  be  other- 
wise with  a  voluntary,  unpaid  Board  of  forty-six  members. 

"In  our  opinion  it  would  be  difficult  to  devise  an  administrative  agency  less 
adapted  to  the  colossal  task  before  it  than  that  which  has  been  created.  The  school 
budget  is  larger  than  any  single  department.  It  amounts  to  24.83  per  cent.,  or  prac- 
tically one-fourth  of  the  total  annual  expenditures  of  the  city  for  current  expense. 
The  Board  of  Education  has  under  its  control  $135,000,000  worth  of  property.  It 
molds  the  education  of  700,000  children,  and  performs  many  other  activities.  The 
political  machinery  provided  by  law  for  the  administration  of  this,  the  largest  single 
department  of  the  city,  is  primarily  responsible  for  the  failures  complained  of. 

"The  internal  organization  of  the  Board  of  Education  is  a  recognition  by  the 
Board  of  the  evils  inherent  in  its  size.  In  order  to  obviate  the  conditions  enumerated 
the  Board  has  been  divided  into  five  distinct  branches  of  administration,  under  five 
separate  and,  as  regards  each  other,  independent  administrative  officers,  each  of  whom 
is  under  the  control  of  one  or  more  special  committees  of  the  Board  of  Education. 
These  committees  are,  in  their  mutual  relations,  as  independent  of  each  other  as  are 
the  administrative  officers  whose  actions  they  supervise.  Their  work  is  not  correlated 
or  coordinated  by  the  Board  of  Education  or  by  any  committee  of  that  body.  For  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Board  of  Education,  which  was  evidently  provided  by  the 
Charter  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  in  the  hands  of  one  authority  all  the  work  of 
the  special  committees,  does  not,  except  in  the  summer  months  when  it  acts  for  the 
Board,  exercise  any  influence  whatever  over  the  school  administration ;  while  the 
Board  of  Education  itself  rarely  modifies  or  controls  the  actions  of  its  committees. 
Thus  the  Board  not  infrequently  votes  at  one  time  on  as  many  as  twenty  resolutions 
coming  to  it  with  the  approval  of  the  different  special  committees. 

'"We  believe  that  one  of  the  main  causes  for  the  establishment  of  so  many  special 
committees,  the  existence  of  which  is  in  large  measure  responsible  for  the  present 
disintegration  of  the  work  of  the  Board,  is  to  be  found  in  the  size  of  that  Board.  In 
the  case  of  a  Board  of  forty-six  members,  the  temptation  to  multiply  committees  in 
order  to  find  places  in  sufficient  numbers  for  as  many  members  of  the  Board  as  pos- 
sible is  irresistible.  The  anticipation  of  the  Commission  which  drew  up  the  present 
charter,  that  the  executive  committee  of  fifteen  of  the  Board  of  Education  would 
really  do  the  detailed  work  of  the  Board,  which  would  thus  be  centralized  in  a  few 
hands,  has  not  been  realized.     There  is  no  indication  that  it  will  be  realized. 

"In  our  opinion  most  of  the  undesirable  conditions  covered  by  this  report,  includ- 
ing the  relations  with  the  city  as  well  as  the  internal  organization  of  the  Board  itself, 
are  directly  or  indirectly  traceable  to  the  size,  organization  and  legal  limitations  of 
the  Board  of  Education.  Many  of  the  educational  and  administrative  problems  cov- 
ered by  other  reports  are  indirectly  traceable  to  the  same  conditions.  And  just  as 
many  collateral  evils  of  city  administration  corrected  themselves  with  a  simplification 
of  the  city  charter,  so  many  of  the  educational  problems  of  the  city  would  be  cor- 
rected were  the  Board  of  Education  organized  on  a  simple,  responsible  and  efficient 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  _  49 

basis.  In  our  opinion,  until  such  a  change  has  been  made  by  the  Legislature,  many 
of  these  problems  will  continue  to  vex  both  the  regularly  elected  city  officials,  the 
Board  of  Education  and  the  educational  staff,  as  well  as  the  public  at  large.  The 
reorganization  of  the  Board  of  Education  is  a  prerequisite  to  other  reforms. 

"From  the  point  of  view  of  business  administration  the  School  Board  is  not  dis- 
similar from  any  other  municipal  department;  it  is  not  dissimilar  from  the  building, 
repairing  and  care  of  streets,  the  managing  of  the  water,  dock  or  bridge  departments. 
In  the  preparation  of  the  budget  the  determination  of  appropriations,  the  accounting 
and  disbursement  system,  the  control  of  contractors  and  the  employment  of  men,  the 
Board  of  Education  is  subject  to  the  same  principles  as  those  which  have  been  found 
effective  in   other  departments. 

"Political  reform  in  recent  years  has  agreed  upon  the  abandonment  of  complexity 
in  political  machinery.  Everywhere  simplicity  and  direct  responsibility  are  being 
sought.  The  city  council  has  generally  been  reduced  in  size.  The  Mayor  has  been 
given  large  powers.  In  New  York,  as  in  many  other  cities,  he  appoints  and  removes 
most,  if  not  all,  important  administrative  officials.  Tlie  commission  form  of  govern- 
ment, which  has  been  adopted  so  widely  in  the  West,  is  a  recognition  of  the  same 
principle.  Everywhere  the  drift  is  away  from  large  legislative  bodies ;  everywhere, 
too,  the  change  is  being  made  from  irresponsible  boards  to  individuals  appointed  and 
removable  by  an  elective  official  responsible  to  the  community  for  his  actions. 

"This  change  has  been  marked  by  distinct  advance  in  city  administration.  The 
success  of  the  present  charter  of  New  York  City  is  an  illustration  of  the  improvement 
which  follows  from  simplicity  in  organization  and  the  placing  of  responsibility  upon 
a  single  individual  whose  acts  can  easily  be  traced  and  who  can  be  held  accountable 
for  his  appointments  and  his  acts. 

"The  same  evolution  is  manifest  in  recent  school  charters.  The  large  unwieldy 
school  board  is  being  abandoned  and  a  small  board  of  five,  seven  or  nine  members  is 
being  substituted  in  its  place.  In  Boston,  the  school  committee  consists  of  five  mem- 
bers, in  whom  are  reposed  practically  all  powers  of  school  administration  except  the 
selection  and  purchase  of  sites  for  buildings.  This  power  is  reposed  in  an  independent 
committee  of  three  members  appointed  by  the  Mayor.  In  Boston  the  school  com- 
mittee is  elected  by  the  people  rather  than  appointed.  The  committee  meets  once  a 
week  in  open  session ;  it  transacts  its  business  as  a  committee  of  the  whole,  and  dis- 
poses of  an  immense  quantity  of  work  in  cooperation  with  the  superintendent  and 
heads  of  departments  with  efficiency  and  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  the  city. 

"The  recent  school  law  of  Ohio  abolished  a  complex  system  and  substituted  a 
small  board.  Some  of  the  members  are  elected  at  large,  some  of  them  by  districts. 
The  transfer. from  the  large  to  the  small  board  has  been  followed  by  an  improvement 
in  the  character  of  the  men  elected ;  in  a  new  feeling  of  responsibility  on  their  part 
and  an  awakening  sense  of  control  on  the  part  of  the  community. 

"The  school  board  of  Chicago  consists  of  twenty-one  members,  acting  through 
three  committees  in  close  cooperation  and  harmony  with  the  school  superintendent 
and  salaried  administrative  officials. 

"In  our  opinion  a  board  of  eight  members  would  be  small  enough  to  act  as  a  body 
on  all  questions  of  policy  if  it  abandoned  the  present  administrative  disintegration  into 
a  number  of  committees  and  did  its  work  in  the  Board  as  a  whole  or  as  is  done  by 
the  Boston  and  Chicago  school  boards  in  two  or  three  committees. 

"It  would  be  large  enough,  by  reason  of  the  differences  in  voting  power  of  its 
members  and  the  districts  from  which  its  members  are  appointed,  to  represent  ade- 
quately the  various  boroughs  of  the  city  and  the  various  shades  of  opinion  in  the  city 
on  school  matters. 

"Attention  may  be  called  finally  to  the  fact  that  such  an  organization  of  the  Board 
would  not  be  a  novel  one  to  the  people  of  the  city.  The  method  proposed  has  been 
applied  for  over  ten  years  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  and  has,  in 
the  opinion  of  most  competent  observers,  been  successful  in  solving  the  very  similar 
problems  which  are  presented  to  that  body." 

It  is  further  recommended  in  the  GcxDdnow-Howe  report  that : 

B.  "The  development  of  local  school  boards  or  other  organizations  should  be  un- 
dertaken by  the  Board  of  Education.  There  should  be  statutory  power  for  the  devolu- 
tion of  some  of  its  authority  to  local  administrative  agencies,  with  power  in  the  local 


50  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

board  to  work  out  courses  of  teaching  and  activities  suited  to  the  nationality,  industrial 
conditions  and  character  of  the  neighborhood.  Local  groups  should  be  given  as  much 
power  as  is  consistent  with  a  proper  standard  of  efficiency  for  the  city  as  a  whole. 
The  form  of  these  local  boards  should  not  be  provided  by  state  laws.  It  should  rather 
be  left  to  the  Board  of  Education.  For  such  a  scheme  can  only  be  worked  out  by 
experiment.  Different  methods  might  be  tested  out  in  different  boroughs  or  in  differ- 
ent sections.  The  powers  of  teachers,  principals,  district  superintendents,  as  well  as 
local  authorities  should  be  determined  by  by-laws  of  the  Board  of  Education,  with 
the  aim  of  awakening  the  talent  now  dormant  within  and  without  the  schools." 

Conclusions  One  through  Fourteen  may  ht  acted  upon  by  the  pres- 
ent Board  of  Education,  without  waiting  for  legislation,  if  the  Board 
of  Education  holds  to  the  idea  that  it  is  responsible  for  school  work, 
and  that  laymen  and  experts,  working  together,  may  safely  approach 
any  of  the  problems  calling  for  solution.  Conclusion  Fifteen  is  not 
made  to  embarrass  the  efforts  now  being  put  forth  by  the  Board  and  its 
staff,  but  rather  because  it  is  the  firm  conviction  of  Dr.  Goodnow  and 
Dr.  Howe  that  better  work  can  be  done  if  the  Board  of  Education  is 
reduced  in  size,  as  recommended. 

The  Import  of  the  Inquiry. 

While  the  local  inquiry  was  undertaken  in  order  to  tell  the  Board 
of  Estimate  how  to  spend  the  millions  devoted  to  public  education,  to 
formulate  a  program  in  cooperation  with  the  Board  of  Education  for 
the  development  of  the  local  schools,  and  to  establish  measures  by 
which  the  local  work  might  be  currently  appraised,  it  became  necessary 
to  state  the  fundamental  aims  of  public  education  which  have  a  si)ecial 
significance  for  this  inquiry  but  which  are  national,  rather  than  local, 
in  character.  Professor  Hanus  and  Dr.  McMurry  set  up  provisional 
standards  which  they  altered   from  time  to  time  during  the  conduct 

of  this  inquiry.     Their  final  standards  will  be   found  on  pages 

and  of  this  report. 

The  following  epitome  of  the  educational  import  of  the  school  in- 
vestigation in  this  City  has  been  furnished  by  members  of  the  staff 
of  the  Committee : 

A.    The  Place  of  Education  in  Modem  Life. 

"Any  educational  standards  must  be  regarded  at  present  as  provisional  and  tem- 
porary. The  public  school  is  an  instrument  of  social  development.  Its  existence  testi- 
fies to  the  fact  that  the  present  economic  and  social  order  is  not  final.  If  education 
were  subordinated  to  the  present  economic  order  its  influence  would  become  the  more 
deadly  as  it  became  more  scientific  and  compelling.  It  is  tlierefore  clear  that  the 
secondary  school  should  not  aim  to  determine  a  child's  vocation  definitely  or  to  fit  him 
for  a  certain  calling.  The  various  agencies  of  general  society  and  higher  education 
can  do  that.  The  elementary  school  should  facilitate  and  simplify  the  process  of 
economic  selection,  and  should  act  as  a  transmitter  between  human  supply  and  indus- 
trial demand. 

"On  the  other  hand,  no  formulation  of  education  in  terms  of  the  idealism  of  a 
century  ago  can  produce  the  type  of  men  and  women  we  have  a  right  to  expect  from 
our  public  school  to-day.  Success  along  these  old  lines  would  entirely  divorce  the 
school  from  our  present  economic  and  industrial  life.     If  such  a  division  were  possible 


FINAL   REPORT   OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY 


51 


it  would  check  economic  evolution  and  produce  maladjustments  and  moral  shipwreck. 
It  would  be  far  better  for  education  to  remain  in  its  much  criticised  present  condition 
than  for  it  to  become  an  agency  for  perpetuating  the  present  economic  order  and  for 
rehabilitating  the  Utopia  of  sentiment  which  characterized  things  intellectual  before  Uie 
industrial  revolution  of  the  last  one  hundred  years  took  place. 

"School  work  must  take  into  consideration  the  nature  of  the  child.  Experimental 
psychology  and  investigation  have  clearly  indicated  that  the  child  goes  through  many 
changes  during  his  school  life.  These  changes  are  affected  by  and  in  turn  affect  the 
child  in  school,  in  the  home  and  on  the  street.  Every  boy  and  every  girl  is  plunged 
first  into  one  influence  and  then  another.  Uniformity  of  treatment  is  impossible.  The 
school  is  just  beginning  to  recognize  fully  that  the  old-fashioned  uniform  course  of 
study  has  served  only  to  confuse  and  impede  the  real  success  of  school  work.  The 
play  life  and  the  home  life  of  the  child  give  vent  to  his  individual  and  natural  forces, 
but  too  frequently  the  school  has  truncated  these  forces  at  an  early  period.  The  suc- 
cessive bursts  of  instinct,  interest  and  social  tendency  which  characterize  child  life 
often  die  and  are  forgotten  when  adult  life  is  reached.  Thus  it  is  the  proper  function 
of  the  school  to  act  as  an  intermediary  between  the  individual  and  society.  Its  primary 
duty  is  to  inhibit  the  bad  and  develop  the  good  inherent  traits  of  the  child,  in  the 
light  of  their  relation  to  the  social  order. 

B.    The  Working  Aims  of  the  School. 

1.  "The  school  should  inculcate  knowledge.  That  is,  it  should  teach  the 
important  facts  and  scientific  truths,  which,  if  generally  possessed,  would  insure  intel- 
ligent cooperation  and  competition  among  men.  These  are  the  general  facts  about 
the  physical  world,  the  simple  facts  about  the  development  of  life  from  the  cell  or 
embryo,  the  obvious  fact  about  the  mind  and  the  will  power  and  the  necessary  help- 
ful facts  about  the  make-up  and  growth  of  society.  Simple  concrete  facts  concerning 
all  these  are  met  with  every  day.  The  normal  individual  can  be  helped  to  discern 
them  if  the  school  adopts  a  proper  educational  method. 

2.  "The  school  should  give  to  its  pupils  a  mastery  of  method.     The  basis 

of  this  method  is  proper  coordination  between  the  child's  mind  and  body;  in  a  word, 
rational  self-control.  The  school  can  assist  in  such  coordination  by  the  inculcation 
of  purpose  in  the  child,  by  teaching  him  to  appraise  the  different  values  of  things,  by 
assisting  him  in  organizing  his  ideas  and  finally  by  teaching  him  to  forge  ahead  and 
exercise  his  initiative.  But  the  desired  mastery  of  method  can  be  most  easily  assisted 
by  the  school  through  activities — constructive  team-working  activities  related  in  a 
directly  serviceable  way  to  community  needs  and  to  the  furnishing  of  an  immediate 
economic  stimulus  to  the  child.  A  curriculum  aimed  at  the  teaching  of  method  would 
therefore  be  built  upon  (a)  productive  work,  (b)  participation  in  economic  distribu- 
tion and  consumption,  (c)  citizenship  effort,  (d)  romantic  interest  embodied  in 
aesthetic  expression  and  group  life  and  (e)  natural  science  both  as  a  subject  matter 
and  as  a  technique  related  to  the  other  subjects.  If  the  work  is  made  concrete  and 
direct  enough  it  will  be  simple  and  attractive.  It  is  present  day  abs.traction  that 
makes  school  work  difficult  and  complex. 

3.  "The  school  should  do  its  part  to  induct  the  child  into  life  about  him 
instead  of  divorcing  him  from  it.  This  means  not  merely  or  primarily  relation- 
ships within  the  school,  but  rather  relationships  with  the  general  environment,  whereby 
the  successive  psychic  and  psychological  stages  of  child  life  would  be  progressively 
bound  up  with  the  general  life  toward  which  the  child  moves. 

4.  "The  school  should  induct  the  child  into  industrial  and  economic  life 
far  enough  so  that  his  education  will  serve  as  a  vocational  aid,  'It  should  make 
the  child  feel  that  there  is  a  suitable  vocation  open  to  him  to  which  he  may  aspire.' 
As  a  separate  responsibility  of  the  school  this  duty  does  not  become  separate  and  per- 
manent until  toward  the  end  of  the  high  school  course.  It  should  always  be  a  part  of 
the  three  duties  of  the  school  stated  above  to  keep  the  facts  of  industrial  and  economic 
life  prominent,  and  they  will  have  their  place  as  a  matter  of  course,  if  the  work  of 
the  school  is  made  sufficiently  concrete. 

5.  "The  school  should  give  attention  to  physical  education  and  correction 
of  physical  defects.     These  are  involved  in  i,  2,  and  3  above,  and  in  physical 


52  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

examination  which  forms  a  part  of  the  work  of  physical  training.  The  correlation  of 
school  work  with  other  public  work  such  as  that  of  the  department  of  health,  public 
charities,  children's  courts  and  public  recreation,  if  properly  carried  out  makes  pro- 
vision for  the  checking  up  of  knowledge  gained  at  school  and  the  consequent  moral, 
mental  and  physical  readjustment  of  the  individual  to  his  environment. 

6.    "The   school   should    educate   for   leisure.     Citizenship    and   the    higher 

values  generally  are  coming  more  and  more  to  be  matters  pertaining  to  the  leisure 
hours,  not  to  the  hours  of  specialized  work.  Every  child  should  be  brought  to  realize 
the  value  of  his  leisure  time  and  how  to  use  it  to  the  best  advantage.  If  he  is  taught 
to  make  use  of  that  leisure  along  with  his  family  group,  the  yawning  chasm  between 
the  city  parent  and  the  city  child  will  be  successfully  bridged  over  and  moral  ship- 
wreck will  be  prevented." 

C.    Tests  of  Public  School  Work. 

1.  "What  are  its  results;  in  what  way  are  the  six  above  aims  of  the  school 
achieving  results  in  the  case  of  each  child  committed  to  its  care? 

2.  "Has  the  school  system  the  elements  of  self-scrutiny?  Is  it  applying  tests  to 
indicate  its  own  efficiency  or  making  reports  to  indicate  progress  or  the  reverse,  and 
also  whether  or  not  tests  imposed  from  the  outside,  such  as  Regents'  examinations, 
are  worth  while  as  measures  of  city  school  work? 

3.  "Has  the  school  system  the  elements  of  deliberate  experimentation? 

4.  "Are  the  school  principals  free  to  adapt  their  curricula  to  localities,  and  are 
the  teachers  free  to  adapt  their  methods  to  special  conditions  or  to  their  own  personal 
kind  of  ability? 

5.  "Is  the  school  system  correlated  with  other  public  institutions  whose  purposes 
are  mainly  educational,  such  as  museums  and  libraries,  with  recreation  and  with  the 
economic  environment?     Is  there  manifested  a  purpose  making  for  such  correlation?" 

Your  Committee  has  previously  stated  that  it  has  not  attempted  to 
pass  upon  the  educational  worth  of  those  parts  of  the  various  reports 
submitted  to  it  which  deal  with  purely  educational  problems.  It  main- 
tains a  similar  position  with  respect  to  the  foregoing  analysis  of  the 
underlying  significance  of  the  reports  of  the  school  specialists,  and 
merely  presents  the  same  for  the  consideration  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation. 


m.    THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  INQUIRY. 


(i)    The  Origin  of  the  School  Inquiry. 

The  present  administration,  like  its  predecessor,  came  into  office 
pledged  to  deal  radically  with  the  serious  problems  represented  by  over- 
age classes,  children  on  part-time,  whose  parents  considered  part-time 
a  serious  evil,  over-age  children  encumbering  the  lower  classes,  thus 


FINAL   REPORT   OF   SCHOOL   INQUIRY  53 

aggravating  part-time,  and  children  discouraged  by  repeated  failures. 
Just  preceding  the  municipal  election  of  1909  the  Russell  Sage  Foun- 
dation concluded  an  investigation  which  indicated  that  retardation  was 
costing  the  city  millions  of  dollars  annually.  Despite  the  fact  that 
the  Board  of  Education  had,  in  1904,  taken  steps  to  end  school  con- 
gestion, and  that  $51,227,450  had  been  expended  during  the  years 
1904-1909,  inclusive,  for  new  buildings  and  sites,  156,200  children 
were  reported  as  over-age  for  their  grade  in  1909,  and  47,565  were 
reported  on  part  time  in  September,  1909. 

In  1910  the  City  Superintendent  reported  that  the  total  number  of 
available  school  sittings  in  Greater  New  York  exceeded  the  number  of 
children  by  over  40,000.  Notwithstanding  this  fact,  54,000  were  on 
part  time.  This  meant  that  here  were  some  67,000  empty  seats  be- 
cause they  were  not  where  the  children  could  use  them. 

Notwithstanding  this  showing,  a  sj^ecial  committee  of  the  Board 
of  Education  advised  this  board  to  appropriate  $8,000,000  a  year  for 
five  years  in  order  to  end  part  time. 

Although  requested  on  June  16,  19 10,  to  furnish  data  as  to  popu- 
lation and  attendance,  such  as  in  the  opinion  of  your  Committee  should 
have  been  considered  by  the  Department  of  Education  when  locating 
new  buildings  and  expending  the  $51,227,450  corporate  stock  between 
the  years  1904  and  191 1  for  sites,  buildings  and  equipment,  the  De- 
partment of  Education  presented  its  request  for  $14,083,920  corporate 
stock  for  191 1  unsupported  by  any  data  to  show  population  or  drift 
of  population.  Upon  the  refusal  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Ap- 
portionment to  appropriate  any  funds  until  such  supporting  data  were 
furnished,  the  Permanent  Census  Board  was  able  to  present  the  same 
in  time  for  the  consideration  of  the  Budget  Committee. 

During  the  budget  hearings  of  October,  1910,  it  became  evident 
that  the  Board  of  Education  did  not  have  proper  evidence  at  hand  to 
show  the  need  for  funds  requested  in  the  budget  estimate,  and  had  not 
formulated  the  budget  requests  with  any  w^ell  coordinated  program  in 
mind.  The  Budget  Committee  found  that  for  several  years  prior  to 
the  time  the  present  city  administration  took  office  difficulties  were 
experienced  every  October  when  the  estimates  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation for  additional  teachers  required  to  take  care  of  expected  addi- 
tional registration  of  pupils,  were  considered.  Each  year  the  Board 
of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  has  allowed  fewer  teachers  than  the 
school  estimates  called  for.  Each  year  the  public  was  told  through 
letters,  meetings  and  formal  statements  that  this  board  was  crippling 
the  schools  by  voting  less  than  the  flat  five  per  cent,  increase,  or  the 
later  flat  provisions  for  28,000  additional  pupils,  which  increases  were 
yearly  alleged  by  the  Board  of  Education  to  be  necessary.  Hearings 
upon  the  191 1  estimates,  conducted  by  the  Budget  Committee  appointed 
by  the  present  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  in  1910,  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Board  of  Education  did  not  have  at  its 


54  EDUCATIONAL   INVESTIGATION 

disposal  proper  data  on  which  to  predicate  its  estimates  for  additional 
teachers,  and  that  the  Board  afterward  devoted  to  purposes  not  men- 
tioned at  budget  time,  alleged  inadequate  allowances  for  additional 
teachers.  Instead  of  the  increase  of  the  school  register  being  28,000 
in  191 1,  as  estimated  by  the  Board  of  Education,  the  actual  increase  of 
the  December  191 1  register  over  the  December  1910  register  was  only 

11,913- 

As  has  been  stated,  the  Department  of  Education  has  always  main- 
tained that  part  time,  retardation,  congestion,  in  short,  those  evils  of 
the  present  school  conditions  which  it  considered  major,  could  only 
be  remedied  by  the  erection  of  additional  buildings.  Preliminary 
studies  made  by  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  the  Bureau  of  Munici- 
pal Research  and  the  experiences  of  Cleveland,  emphasized  the  neces- 
sity for  giving  attention  to  the  influence  of  teaching,  discipline  and  the 
course  of  study  in  the  elementary  schools,  as  possible  causes  of  these 
bad  conditions. 

Many  teachers  and  principals  stated  frankly  to  representatives  of 
your  Committee  that  they  could  not  possibly  give  the  needed  attention 
to  teaching  methods  because  of  the  onerous  requirements  of  the  course 
of  study,  which  had  apparently  been  worked  out  without  reference  to 
modern  psychology.  Lack  of  discipline  was  a  matter  of  grave  con- 
cern which  many  teachers  felt  they  were  unable  to  cope  with  under 
present  by-laws  and  present  conditions. 

The  lack  of  classified  facts  to  support  estimates  emphasized  that 
necessity,  out  of  fairness  to  the  children,  as  well  as  to  taxpayers,  for 
some  method  by  which  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate and  the  public  should  be  apprised  currently  of  the  essential  truths 
regarding  part  time,  over-size  classes,  over-age  and  retardation. 

(2)    The  Resolution  Ordering  the  Inquiry. 

The  matter  was  considered  at  length  in  the  Budget  Committee  of 
the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  and  a  special  inquiry,  under 
the  direct  control  of  this  board,  was  determined  upon.  Accordingly,  a 
resolution  was,  on  October  26,  1910,  passed  by  the  Board,  ordering 
such  an  inquiry,  and  authorizing  the  committee  to  be  appointed  pur- 
suant thereto,  "to  associate  with  it  such  experts  within  and  without 
the  city  government,"  as  might  assist  it  in  the  conduct  of  the  inquiry 
and  the  formulation  of  recommendations  to  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment.  The  full  text  of  the  resolution  ordering  the 
inquiry  is  as  follows : 

"Whereas,  The  Budget  of  the  Department  of  Education  represents  approxi- 
mately one-third  of  the  total  appropriation  of  The  City  of  New  York  for  current 
administration  purposes ;    and 

"Where.\s,  The  appropriation  recommended  by  the  Budget  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  for  the  year  191 1  for  the  purpose  of  the 
Department  of  Education  represents  an  allowance  of  $1,623,555  in  excess  of  the  three- 
mill  tax  appropriation  required  by  law;    and 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY 


3D 


"Whereas,  in  formulating  the  allowance  for  the  purpose  of  the  Department  of 
Education  this  Board  has  been  unable  to  secure  sufficient  and  satisfactory  information 
in  explanation  of  requests  for  appropriations  made  by  such  Department  to  enable  it 
to  reach  proper  conclusions  with  respect  to  the  necessity  and  propriety  of  sudi 
requests ;    and 

"Whereas,  It  is  the  sense  of  this  Board  that  efficient  and  progressive  adminis- 
tration of  the  schools  of  the  City  of  New  York  is  indispensable  to  the  welfare  and 
progress  of  the  city,  and  that  generous  appropriations  for  the  purposes  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Education  are  desirable  in  so  far  as  assurance  and  evidence  can  be  given  that 
such  appropriations  will  be  expended  for  purposes  and  in  a  manner  to  promote  the 
efficiency  and  welfare  of  the  schools  and  to  increase  the  value  and  effect  of  the  instruc- 
tion given  therein ;    and 

"Whereas,  The  growth  and  development  of  educational  activities  and  improve- 
ment in  educational  methods  actually  present  to  this  Board,  in  connection  with  the 
preparation  of  the  tax  and  the  corporate  stock  budgets,  many  questions  bearing  upon 
the  efficacy  of  educational  policies  and  methods  now  pursued,  and  upon  the  efficiency 
and  economy  of  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  Department  of  Education ; 
be  it 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  members  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  be 
appointed  by  the  Mayor  to  conduct  an  inquiry  into  the  organization,  equipment  and 
methods,  both  financial  and  educational,  of  the  Department  of  Education,  including  such 
plans  and  proposals  as  may  have  been  formulated  or  may  be  under  consideration  by 
the  Board  of  Education  for  extending  and  developing  its  educational  activities,  and 
that  for  this  purpose  the  committee  be  authorized  to  associate  with  it  such  experts 
within  and  without  the  government  of  the  City  of  New  York  as  may  assist  it  in  the 
conduct  of  this  inquiry  and  in  the  formulation  of  recommendations  of  this  Board,  and 
that  it  be  further  authorized  to  employ  such  assistants  as  it  may  find  necessary  for  the 
purposes  of  this  inquiry;    and  be  it  further 

"Resolved,  That  for  the  above  purposes  hereinabove  mentioned,  the  Board 
include  an  appropriation  of  $50,000  in  the  appropriation  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment  for  the  year   191 1." 

(3)     The  Plan  of  the  Inquiry. 

The  Committee  appointed  pursuant  to  the  foregoing  resolution 
arranged  with  President  Egerton  L.  Winthrop,  Jr.,  of  the  Board  of 
Education  to  conduct  a  friendly  and  searching  inquiry  along  construc- 
tive lines.  After  mature  deliberation,  the  inquiry  was  divided  into 
two  branches,  the  first  dealing  with  educational  matters,  and  the  second 
dealing  with  financial  and  administrative  matters. 

Professor  Paul  H.  Hanus.  head  of  the  division  of  education.  Har- 
vard University,  was  employed  to  take  general  charge  of  the  educa- 
tional aspects  of  the  inquiry.  Professor  Hanus  nominated  his  own 
assistants  and  his  selections  were  in  every  case  approved  by  the  Com- 
mittee. Early  in  June  the  Committee  indicated  to  Professor  Hanus 
the  main  lines  of  the  inquiry,  and  requested  him  to  outline  how  his 
branch  of  the  inquiry  should  be  conducted.  The  plan  finally  presented 
by  Professor  Hanus,  including  both  the  Committee's  suggestions  and 
his  own,  was  finally  approved,  and  the  investigation  was  begun.  An 
outline  of  the  inquiry  along  educational  lines  is  presented  on  page  — 
of  this  report. 

Eleven  specialists  were  employed  to  cooperate  with  Professor 
Hanus.    Their  names  and  their  subjects  will  be  found  on  page  — . 


56  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

A  very  important  part  of  the  Committee's  work  has  been  the  Com- 
mittee's inquiry  into  the  condition  of  the  physical  plant  and  the  busi- 
ness system  and  accounts  of  the  Board  of  Education.  Upon  these 
phases  of  the  work  the  Committee  employed  the  following  specialists 
to  make  studies  of  the  respective  subjects  named : 

Mr.  William  H.  West,  Chartered  Accountant — "Organization  of  the  Office  of  the 
Secretary,  and  the  Organization  and  Work  of  the  Bureau  of  Audit  and  Accounts, 
Department  of  Education." 

Mr.  Marvyn  Scudder,  Accountant — "Investigation  of  Complaints  and  the  Bureau 
of  Supplies  of  the  Board  of  Education." 

Mr.  E.  W.  Stewart,  Accountant — (a)  "Janitorial  Compensation."  (b)  "Account- 
ing Methods  of  the  Bureau  of  Supplies." 

Mr.  W.  A.  Averill,  Investigator  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research — "Organ- 
ization and  Filing  Methods  of  the  Office  of  the  City  Superintendent  and  Board  of 
Associate  City  Superintendents." 

Mr.  Charles  G.  Armstrong,  Consulting  Engineer — (a)  "The  Condition  and  Effi- 
ciency of  Public  School  Buildings."  (b)  "The  Degree  of  Utilization  of  the  School 
Buildings  and  Plants."  (c)  Joint  investigation  by  Mr.  Armstrong,  Professors  Basker- 
ville  and  Winslow  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  Doctor  Lucas  and 
Mr.  Knox,  of  the  quality  of  air  supplied  to  classrooms,  (d)  "Report  on  New  York 
Public  Schools — Delays  in  Their  Location,  Design  and  Construction — Remedies  Sug- 
gested." 

The  various  experts  were  left  free  to  conduct  their  inquiries  in 
their  own  way  after  the  general  plan  had  been  determined  upon.  The 
Committee  knew  nothing  of  their  findings  until  their  reports  came  in. 
After  reading  the  reports  the  Committee  requested  additional  evi- 
dence to  support  allegations  of  the  various  reports.  The  Committee's 
letters  to  the  various  specialists  and  the  replies  supplied  thereto  will  be 
found  prefixed  to  the  monographs  to  which  they  apply.  Professor  El- 
liott and  Professor  Davis  made  modifications  in  their  reports;  the  rea- 
sons why  other  modifications  were  not  made  are  stated  in  the  corre- 
spondence. The  report  of  one  of  the  specialists,  Professor  E.  C. 
Moore,  was  rejected  for  reasons  already  stated  in  a  special  report  filed 
with  your  Board  on  October  31,  19 12. 

It  had  been  the  plan  of  the  Committee  from  the  beginning  to  sub- 
mit the  findings  of  facts  in  both  branches  of  its  inquiry  to  the  most 
competent  person  or  persons  it  could  secure  for  study  and  analysis 
and  further  investigation,  with  the  expectation  that  it  would  be  possi- 
ble to  draw  from  the  two  branches  a  unified  statement  of  what  changes 
in  program,  in  method  and  relationship  were  required  for  the  proper 
development  of  the  public  schools.  The  Committee  knew  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  any  of  the  specialists  employed  to  deal  with  the 
whole  subject  until  all  the  reports  from  the  two  branches  of  the  in- 
quiry were  available. 

The  Committee  was  fortunate  enough  to  secure  Dr.  Frank  J.  Good- 
now,  Professor  of  Administrative  Law,  at  Columbia  University,  and 


FINAL   REPORT   OF  SCHOOL   INQUIRY  57 

Dr.  Frederic  C.  Howe,  Director  of  the  People's  Institute,  to  make  a 
study  of  the  organization  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  its  relation 
to  the  city  and  state  governments.  Dr.  Goodnow  is  regarded  as  the  lead- 
ing authority  on  administrative  law,  and  has  served  as  a  member  of  the 
commission  which  drew  the  present  city  Charter  and  the  proposed  Ivins 
Charter,  and  was  also  a  member  of  President  Taft's  Economy  and  Ef- 
ficiency Commission.  Dr.  Howe  is  one  of  the  best-informed  students  on 
the  subject  of  municipal  organization.  He  has  had  considerable  educa- 
tional experience  and  administrative  experience,  both  here  and  abroad. 

The  joint  report  of  Dr.  Goodnow  and  Dr.  Howe  was  practically 
completed  when  Dr.  Goodnow  was  appointed  constitutional  advisor  to 
the  Chinese  Republic.  The  Committee  was  able  to  release  Dr.  Good- 
now for  this  important  work,  for.  as  he  informed  the  Committee,  he 
had  arranged  with  Dr.  Howe  to  do  the  proof  reading  of  the  detailed 
report,  which  will  be  found  in  Volume  III  of  this  report.  This  joint 
report  fully  establishes  the  wisdom  of  the  Committee's  plan  of  inves- 
tigation, its  rejection  of  the  report  of  Professor  Moore,  and  its  apply- 
ing to  educational  administration  those  principles  of  scientific  organiza- 
tion which  have  been  proved  efficient  in  other  fields  of  administration. 


(4)     The  Cost  of  the  Inquiry. 

In  order  to  conduct  its  work  as  economically  as  possible  the  Com- 
mittee required  all  of  its  employees  to  file  a  statement  showing  what 
they  did  each  day.  This  plan  has  been  instrumental  in  saving  the  city 
much  money,  and  should  be  adopted  in  every  case  where  the  city  employs 
special  experts. 

Cost  of  School  Inquiry  from  March  15,  191 1,  to  May  30,  1913, 
Exclusive  of  the  Cost  of  Printing  the  Committee's  Final  Report. 

Educational  Branch: 

Cost  of  investigation  carried  on  under  direction  of  Prof.  Paul  H.  Hanus  from 
July  I,  1911,  to  February  i,  1913: 

Salaries     $40,87978 

Personal    Expenses    1,190.40 

Office  and  Other  Expenses 6,507.88 

Total    $48,578.06 

Cost  of  investigation  supplementary  to  the  above  from  July  i,  1912,  to  May  30, 
1913: 

Salaries    $4,684.80 

Personal     96.64 

Office   and   Other    Expenses 2,099.19 

Total    $6,880.63 


58  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

Business  and  Administrative  Branch: 

Cost  of  investigation  from  March  15,  191 1,  to  May  30,  1913 : 

Salaries    $37,438.13 

Personal  Expenses I9S7S 

Apparatus,  Office  and  Other  Expenses 2,046.43 

Total    $39,680.31 

Grand   Total    95,139-00 

The  total  paid  for  salaries  in  the  educational  branch  of  the  inquiry 
was  $45,564.58.  The  total  number  of  days'  work  for  which  this 
amount  was  expended  was  4,118.5  days,  and  the  average  daily  salary 
was  $11.06  per  person.  The  total  paid  for  salaries  in  the  business 
and  administrative  branch  of  the  inquiry  was  $37,438.13.  The  num- 
ber of  days  worked  was  2,448.87  days,  and  the  average  daily  salary 
was  $15.28  per  person. 

The  Committee  has  been  able  to  secure  the  services  of  the  various 
experts  at  comparatively  low  prices.  Professor  Elliott  served  for  con- 
siderably less  than  his  compensation  as  expert  for  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education.  The  thanks  of  the  city  are  due  to  Mr.  Cour- 
tis, who  generously  contributed  his  services,  and  received  only  slightly 
more  than  his  expenses,  which  he  kept  at  the  minimum,  and  to  Pro- 
fessor Charles  Baskerville  and  Professor  C.  E.  A.  Winslow,  of  the 
College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  who  have,  without  charge  to  the 
city,  supervised  the  long  and  tedious  investigations  of  ventilation  con- 
ditions and  the  quality  of  air  supplied  New  York  public  school  "build- 
ings, and  also  to  Mr.  W.  A.  Averill,  whose  services  were  given  to  the 
Committee  by  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  Through  careful 
scrutiny  of  bills  and  by  the  use  of  mechanical  devices  the  cost  of  tabu- 
lating the  detailed  part-time  and  promotion  reports  from  the  15,527 
classes  of  the  elementary  schools,  and  the  Courtis  series  of  eight  blanks 
for  each  of  the  33,000  children  examined  has  been  kept  at  a  minimum. 
The  Committee  unhesitatingly  states  that  no  city  investigation  of  like 
magnitude  has  been  made  previously  for  any  such  sum  of  money. 

(5)    Difficulties  Encountered. 

The  Committee  believes  it  only  fair  to  state  that  its  investigation 
was  carried  on  under  difficulties.  No  investigation  of  the  kind  has 
ever  been  made  before  and  there  were  no  precedents  to  follow.  Some 
time  after  the  investigation  began  difficulties  arose  because  the  right 
of  this  Board  to  make  such  an  investigation  was  questioned.  This  de- 
*  layed  the  work  and  required  the  stafif  to  go  on  with  their  work  with- 
out pay  for  a  period  of  two  months.  The  inevitable  delays,  where  many 
departments  are  involved,  also  hampered  the  work.  The  matter  of  publi- 
cation presented  difficulties.  In  order  to  ascertain  the  best  means  of  giv- 
ing publicity  to  the  inquiry  reports,  a  conference  was  called  by  the  Com- 


FINAL   REPORT   OF   SCHOOL    INQUIRY  59 

mittee,  to  which  the  managing  editors  of  the  various  daily  newspapers 
were  requested  to  send  representatives,  and  to  which  interested  pubHc- 
spirited  citizens  were  invited.  This  conference  recommended  the  plan  of 
publication  followed,  which  has  given  wide  publicity  to  the  main  findings 
of  the  various  specialists  employed  by  the  Committee. 

(6)    Aid  Furnished  by  Organizations  of  Citizens. 

The  work  of  the  Committee  was  made  easier  because  of  the  coop- 
eration of  the  Board  of  Education  and  because  of  the  cooperation  and 
suggestion  of  individuals  and  organizations  interested  in  education. 
The  Committee  wishes  especially  to  express  its  indebtedness  to  the  fol- 
lowing organizations :  The  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  The  Peo- 
ple's Institute,  the  Public  Education  Association,  the  Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  the  Carnegie  Founda- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching,  and  the  General  Education 
Board. 

(7)    National  Significance  of  the  Inquiry. 

The  preliminary  work  of  the  Committee  was  directed  toward  the 
formulation  of  the  general  principles  which  were  to  guide  it  in  the 
conduct  of  its  inquiry.  In  addition  to  preliminary  conferences  with 
the  President  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  with  the  representatives 
of  the  above  organizations,  educational  authorities  and  interested  per- 
sons in  this  city  and  in  different  parts  of  the  country  were  consulted. 
The  consensus  of  opinion  was  that  the  country  at  large  needed  an  in- 
vestigation which  would  make  it  possible  ( i )  to  appraise  the  work  of 
secondary  schools;  (2)  to  assemble  all  known  efficiency  tests  in  the 
field  of  education,  and  to  consider  the  scientific  methods  used  in  the 
handling  of  vital  statistics,  labor  statistics  and  actuarial  tables,  to  the 
end  that  comparable  methods  may  be  employed  in  the  field  of  educa- 
tion; (3)  to  see  whether  the  educational  work  of  the  school  might  not 
be  integrated  with  the  educational  work  now  carried  on  by  the  family, 
the  world  of  business  and  industry  and  by  governmental  institutions; 
and  (4)  to  decrease  the  complexity  and  to  increase  the  responsiveness 
of  educational  machinery  to  individual  and  social  needs. 

While  the  following  reports  submitted  by  the  specialists  to  your 
Committee  have  been  prepared  with  specific  reference  to  local  condi- 
tions, nevertheless  the  foregoing  wider  purposes  have  been  kept  in 
mind  as  the  underlying  aims  of  the  inquiry. 

(8)     Concluding  Statement. 

The  various  reports  of  the  educational  specialists,  accountants, 
statisticians,  consulting  engineers  and  other  experts  engaged  l)y  your 
Committee  are  presented,  as  submitted,  in  this  volume  and  in  volumes 


6o  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTIGATION 

two  and  three.  The  general  table  of  contents  for  the  three  volumes  of 
this  report  will  be  found  on  pages  of  this  volume.  The  analyti- 
cal tables  of  contents  of  each  report  or  the  subdivisions  thereof  are  pre- 
fixed to  the  reports  or  subdivisions  to  which  they  refer. 

Your  Committee  regrets  that  it  was  unable  to  supply  copies  of  the 
reports  to  the  teachers  of  the  local  schools,  and  to  comply  with  the  re- 
quests coming  from  all  the  large  cities  and  the  various  states  in  the 
United  States,  and  from  England,  Germany  and  Australia,  for  the 
several  interim  reports  which  have  been  published  during  the  past 
year.  This  was  not  possible  owing  to  the  lack  of  funds  and  legal 
authority  to  issue  a  sufficient  number  of  copies  to  meet  the  great  de- 
mand for  the  reports  of  the  school  inquiry. 

In  conclusion  your  Committee  recommends  that  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation and  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  cooperate  during 
the  next  ten  or  twenty  years,  if  necessary,  in  carrying  out  the  program 
outlined  in  this  report.  This  inquiry  has  unquestionably  demonstrated 
the  imperative  need  for  such  concerted  action. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

John   Purroy   Mitchel, 
President  of   the  Board  of  Aldermen. 

William  A.   Prendergast, 

Comptroller. 

Cyrus  C.  Miller, 
President  of  the  Borough  of  The  Bronx. 

Committee  on  School  Inquiry. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 
EDUCATION  AND  PSYCHOLOGY  LIBRARY 
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